Following His Will

It's time for us to start sacrificing our wills,
our desires, and dreams. God wants the best for us.
He's given us this life, shouldn't we offer it back?

      Following His will is most definitely NOT easy.
 

      So we all say, and we all know in the back of our minds. Yet, when times are good we say "God, I'll follow you no matter WHERE you take me. You want me to go to Antarctica? I'll go to Antarctica. Well...Minnesota is pretty close temperature wise. ;) Just kidding.

       I told God I would let Him take me anywhere He needed me. If I heard His voice clearly telling me where to go, I told Him I'd go. I want to do His will because I know He knows what's best for me. He knows how many hearts and lives can be touched by my testimony and my abilities He's given me. He's brought me to Minnesota so far. However, I wasn't sure (and still am not) how far He'll take me.

       I've been thinking about interning with someone. It's not in my home state. It's just as far as Minnesota is from my home. I really wanted to go home this summer and work, earn money for school, relax, hang out with family and friends, etc. All that fun summer stuff. The one thing I was MOST looking forward to was going to a youth retreat as a counselor. I've been wanting to do that since I was in middle school. I always looked forward to the day I would be old enough.  (Update: And now I’m here in Pennsylvania, learning so much! Praise God! I’m glad I obeyed Him! Yes, it required me laying my own plans and dreams down, but it was worth it! God’s plans for us are GREATER than we can imagine!)

       My mom really encouraged me to do the interning thing. She said, "You can't help people when you're still hurting yourself." She talked about following His will and letting the Holy Spirit work miracles. That made me start thinking about the internship again. Then I went to a meeting at a church tonight...The guy talked about following God's will. I was so convicted and struck by the double emphasis on "God's will" I was receiving today. My mind was almost made up to do the internship...

       I was going to travel around with a group from school on a ministering team. I really thought that sounded great. However, I didn't feel led to do that. I thought maybe God was calling me home. Now I'm second-guessing that. (Actually, I was hesitant to believe God was calling me home over break. I wrote this January 2011 and I ended up going with the team to Ecuador! I felt it was God’s will and He taught me so much! See how important obedience is??)

       Then at our dorm devotions, one night (the night I was pondering whether or not I should do this internship), guess what one of the things were said? FOLLOWING GOD'S WILL. I was so struck again. I will most definitely be praying, but I think God is definitely leading me somewhere I, otherwise, would not have planned on doing, right now, anyway. I wanted to do it, but I always said, "Later".

       It's time for us to start sacrificing our wills, our desires, and dreams. God wants the best for us. He's given us this life, shouldn't we offer it back?