Vocation Prayer Request

  • Thread starter Thread starter JesusSaves17
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JesusSaves17

Guest
ok, this might be a little long, so if you want to, just say a quick prayer for me before skipping over this post 😉 but here’s my story:

I’m 20 and in college. Like many good Catholic young men, I have prayed a lot about my vocation. I’ve thought about the priesthood, I’ve thought about marriage. I really have no clue which way God is pulling me. I’ve thought it might be toward priesthood, however I don’t know how happy I’d be in that because I really want to be married and raise a family. I’ve always had a special yearning to be a dad, but I don’t know if that’s what God wants me to do because I know He does call people to do things they don’t want to do.

So, this summer, I met this girl, everything I could dream about, Catholic, pretty, smart, athletic, funny. I really like her, and I think she might like me, but who knows. I hope so. We’ll go to college together in the fall so no big rush. I pray for her all the time and ask God if this is the ‘one’…I’ve had a few dreams about her the past week, including one where we dated, but who knows if this is from God. I also asked God to give me a sign to be a priest in high school (winning two consecutive games and then a championship game, we did, but I don’t know if that was a sign or God finally rewarding me after years of never winning). Well a couple weeks ago at Mass I asked God for a sign for my future, anything. The readings and Gosepl proceeded to be about sowing and harvesting (she’s a farmer girl) and the homily was about the importance of ‘words’ (I’m pursuing a career in writing). Coincidence? From God? AHH I just want to know.

Is it possible to have more than one will where God will be pleased with whatever we choose. I don’t want to be married 40 years from now and wonder if God is upset. But I would like to be married 40 years from now and raising a family. (I’m a scrupulous person, maybe that plays a role.)

Anyway, to conclude, please pray for me. If it works out with this girl, maybe that is God’s way of answering my question. If not, back to the drawing board. I really want it to work out. I was doing some research a week ago about vocations, a lot of reading, and praying to the Holy Spirit, and I did feel a warmth come over me when I read about getting married and raising kids to be a priest/nun, but maybe I was caught up in the moment and focusing on what I want, which I don’t know for sure is what God wants.

Thanks for any advice and prayers. God Bless.
 
and would God plant a desire within a person (to be married and raise a family) and then call them to do something else like be a priest? Does that make sense?
 
I would recommend praying some prayers that go in the following direction

“Lord, make my desires your desires. I want to do nothing but please you with my choices I make in life. Conform my will to your will. Teach me to discern what your will is for me.”

I think it was Thomas Merton who wrote that the desire to please God itself pleases God. In other words, the Lord is pleased with you because of your desire to please him.

IMO, as we grow closer to the Lord through prayer and the sacraments, he will reveal his will to us, and our will is conformed to his. God’s will for you will become clearer as you grow closer to him. He will reveal it to you, in his time.

I do not think God toys with us. He does not plant desires within us only to ask us to go another direction.

Lastly, get some spiritual direction. Have a Godly priest or someone who is more mature than you in your life that help you discern your vocation.
 
I ask God simply to lead you in the direction He desires for you. God’s will is in peace.

St Therese’s parents both tried and desired Religious life. The Church might had had one less Saint and Doctor of the Church if they’d succeeded in Religious life. As it is, both are to beatified.

The desires you have seem to point to marriage, and God usually uses the ordinary signs to guide us. I can only ask God to fulfil His dream of you, in and through you to others. If you get to have kids that are saints or religious, you’re doing better than most of us. In the end we can only do the best we can manage. I think God is more free about our creative use of ourselves and our inclinations and talents than we often are.

God bless your life abundantly, Trishie
 
Some good advice in this thread. I think you would benefit from seeking spiritual advice before an actual decision - I dont think you are sure yet what decision to make, nor how to arrive at that decision, and it is one that involves not a day or a week, but your whole life.
Keeping you in prayer…Barb:)
 
Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. ~ Psalm 37:4,5
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top