I figured out why God isn't clear with directing us

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leonie

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I’ve had a persistent material desire for about 3 years that at times has been obsessive. I want a bigger house. There is some validity to my desire–we have six kids in a smallish house, and we home school, so we are here all the time!

But, we have complications to moving. We live on adjacent to family, so it would be difficult both to leave family and frowned on to sell outside the family. We live very close to our very good parish and have established friends in our homeschool community. Plus, to move to a bigger house with equivalent yard (important to my dh) would necessitate a significantly longer commute.

And, when I was recently praying about this topic in Adoration (okay, I was whining to Jesus), I had a very clear inner locution that living in this house at this time was essential for the salvation of some members of my family.

But, I still want to move. sigh. :doh2:

Now, I see why God isn’t more direct making His Will clear to us. Even when we know, it doesn’t make it easier to align our wills with Him.

Maybe living in this house is essential for my salvation.

Anyone else struggle with reconciling themselves to a clear directive from God?
 
Remember…
“Thy will be done…”

Maybe pray this…
“God, my way is not working, so I’m going to give myself completely to Your way.”
 
Lord, I do not know what to ask of You. You know better than me what my needs are. You love more than I know how to love. Help me to see clearly my real needs which I do not see. I open my heart to You. Examine and reveal to me my faults and sins. I put all trust in You. I have no other desire than to fulfill Your will. Teach me how to pray. Pray in me. Amen.
 
Hang in there - kids grow up and move out (eventually - hopefully). Then the house will seem so big right? Enjoy the chaos when you can.
 
leonie said:
And, when I was recently praying about this topic in Adoration (okay, I was whining to Jesus), I ?
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very good and apt description of prayer sometimes, thanks, I will remember this.

also I remember how great it was to move into the big 4 br colonial in a subdivision after years in our tiny bungalow on a city lot–and how much more there was to clean, how possessions multiply to fill the space, how the arguments about who will “own” what space escalated, about how time-consuming maintenance became, and what a relief it was to finally get rid of the big house (we only needed it for a few years, then all 4 moved out in the same year). We have a little patio home now and it is still too big for my taste, except we need the extra room when MIL is here for 5 months.
 
I always end up chuckling after I whine to God because I realize to Him I sound just like my kids. 😛

To tell you the truth, I have a difficult time directly asking God for what I want. I also want very much to move. But I have conditions like Dale having a good job with benefits, location, size of house, etc. I do not directly ask God for this. I am keenly aware of needing to be in line with His will. My petitions often sound more like this…Heavenly Father, You know what You have in store for us. We want to do Your will. For the record, we would love to move to south Alabama for all the reasons You already know, but only if it is Your will. Pleeeease. Pretty Pleeeease?

😃 Like I said, I whine to God.
 
leonie said:
Now, I see why God isn’t more direct making His Will clear to us. Even when we know, it doesn’t make it easier to align our wills with Him.

Maybe living in this house is essential for my salvation.

Anyone else struggle with reconciling themselves to a clear directive from God?
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I have struggled with a number of things over the last couple of years.
I wanted to get into a masters program in Theology and just getting an application in was impossible. The harder I tried the more strange obstacles got in the way. I really wanted it but when I finally decided to give up on it (for now), I was surprised by the inner peace I experienced.
There are other examples of things that I really want to do. But, I have decided over the past 2 years to just wait patiently for the doors to open (or not), to watch for open doors, and to continually ask for guidence.
I have been amazed by the guidence that I have received especially using this technique:
At the end of addoration I ask any questions that are pressing and then open the bible to three places randomly. I receive tremendous answers but the way I find them can differ:
For example I asked if I should be doing something more (for God) the first thing I read was- It is pleasing to God to pray for your rulers and leaders… (parphrase). But usually it is not so obvious.
Sometimes it is only in what relates the three readings, or what I learn in trying to study the readings. But I am always given something valuable to me when I do it.

God Bless,
Jim
PS I will say a prayer for your house issue. Promise.
 
the best advice on prayer in situations like this is what I read in a book by a Jewish rabbi years ago: be careful what you pray for, you might get it.
 
dranzal said:
I always end up chuckling after I whine to God because I realize to Him I sound just like my kids. 😛

To tell you the truth, I have a difficult time directly asking God for what I want. I also want very much to move. But I have conditions like Dale having a good job with benefits, location, size of house, etc. I do not directly ask God for this. I am keenly aware of needing to be in line with His will. My petitions often sound more like this…Heavenly Father, You know what You have in store for us. We want to do Your will. For the record, we would love to move to south Alabama for all the reasons You already know, but only if it is Your will. Pleeeease. Pretty Pleeeease?

😃 Like I said, I whine to God.
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There is definitely a*** reason*** He calls us “His Children.”😛
 
Leonie,

I would like to thank you for this post. I have been struggling with the same desire for the same 3 yrs.

We are due to start our 1st yr. of homeschooling this year, and I was REALLY feeling the house-pressure increase. Last night, I asked the Lord (wearily) whether or not this was His will, to PLEASE let me know in no uncertain terms.

(Up until now I had been operating on the idea that if I didn’t have any clear indication that it was not His will, I should keep trying to look for a sign that it was.)

Today, I find this thread in my normal wanderings.🙂
 
I Wish I could remember where I heard/read this because I don’t want to take credit for someone else’s idea but…

just recently I heard about this slant on the idea that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. Most of us think of that in terms of bad stuff, trauma, struggles, etc.

But the idea was suggested what if that means good stuff too.
The things we want but God feels we arent’ ready for yet. Things we have to get our heart ready for, or become humble enough to accept, or broken enough to ask to be fixed, lessons we still need to learn where we are before we move on.

The concept explains a lot to me. I’ve always said that everything happens for a reason. I know that sometime’s God’s answer is no, or not now. So maybe he knows we aren’t ready to handle it yet.
 
leonie said:
But, we have complications to moving. We live on adjacent to family, so it would be difficult both to leave family and frowned on to sell outside the family. We live very close to our very good parish and have established friends in our homeschool community. Plus, to move to a bigger house with equivalent yard (important to my dh) would necessitate a significantly longer commute.
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Your house sounds delightful! As the old saying goes—count your blessings. You are close to family and friends, you have a nice yard, your dh’s commute doesn’t interfer with family time. It’s summer, stay outside a lot, do a de-cluttering run through the house while the kids are outside playing, get some books from the library with pictures of normal conditions in other countries (even in Europe people tend to live in smaller houses than we do), go to Mass and thank the Lord!
 
Sr_Sally said:
Your house sounds delightful! As the old saying goes—count your blessings. You are close to family and friends, you have a nice yard, your dh’s commute doesn’t interfer with family time. It’s summer, stay outside a lot, do a de-cluttering run through the house while the kids are outside playing, get some books from the library with pictures of normal conditions in other countries (even in Europe people tend to live in smaller houses than we do), go to Mass and thank the Lord!
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Thanks for the positive post. I try to be grateful, but I’m not. Isn’t that horrible?

I would say that the kids really enjoy their grandparents. They are wonderful grandparents. There is some history that is negative between them and my dh and me, though. They don’t approve of our lifestyle–large family, and homeschooling. Every pregnancy, my MIL is very unkind to me in particular.

but, even knowing that God wants us here, that there are many benefits to living here, I am having trouble alligning my will to God’s. I’m not sure how to get there–desiring God’s will in this situation more than my own.

What I want to say through this thread was that knowing God’s will doesn’t make it easier to do it.
 
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