Are you good at discerning God's voice? I think I'm getting better at it. Or at least, that's the way it feels. That's pretty much all you can ever really have is a "feeling" of discernment anyway. Right? I mean, no one ever hears the audible voice of God anymore. So how do you know when what you "feel" is Him? When is it really a nudge from the Holy Spirit (and not just you "feeling" good about the decision)?
I think the way you tell it's God, is when you feel a sense of spiritual peace. Oh but...be careful. The world tries to offer you peace sometimes too, so you have to make sure that's not the type of peace you're feeling. It takes discernment to know the difference between spiritual peace and worldly peace. There's that word again (discernment). Oh boy. How do we do all of this discerning anyway?!
Here's how I think you do it. Bring this thing before God in prayer. The thing being whatever it is that you need God's direction on. You bring it before Him in prayer, and then you wait. That's the key: the waiting. You don't rush into anything. You give it all to Him in prayer and then you watch to see what happens next. And while you're waiting on His answer, you keep praying. And you stay observant. Why would you do that? Because God will sometimes use other people or our circumstances to speak to us. It's amazing how often you can pray about something and then begin to see little answers from God start popping up all over the place.
The one thing I know for sure you don't do when wanting God's discernment is to make impromptu decisions. Which is part of our problem. We have to make a decision on something within the next few days. That feels really rushed to me! But I can't tell if God is just asking me to make a leap of faith, or if this is really me trying to be hasty about a decision that isn't supposed to be made that way.
Right now Dave and I are smack dab in the middle of deciding what homeschool curriculum we're going to use next year. I thought I had it all figured out. I wanted to go to the homeschool convention this weekend to see this particular curriculum in person. I had researched it online (it's called Tapestry of Grace) and I really thought this was the one. I mean, I have been incredibly excited about this! But then, God turned my world upside down. He brought this whole other curriculum to the forefront (it's called Classical Conversations). It's a curriculum that, prior to Thursday night, I was COMPLETELY not interested in. I mean, it's SO different from the direction I thought we were heading with our schooling. It just has me thrown for a loop and completely freaking out!
You should have seen me at the homeschool conference. I kept walking back and forth between the booths of these two programs. I still really love Tapestry of Grace, but also still really feel God pulling me towards Classical Conversations. This is where you want to hear the audible voice of God! But since we can't, I'm doing everything I know to do to discern God's direction.
So over the last 48 hours, Dave and I have been doing a lot of praying about this. We've asked a ton of questions from the CC people, and received a ton of answers. I was starting to feel like we had this figured out, but the more I think about it...the less sure I feel! I mean....AAHHHH! We have to make a decision on this ASAP! I hate that kind of pressure!!
And so I go back to my original question: are you good at discerning God's voice? Well, if you are, would you share with me your pointers? How DO you know when it's God leading you a certain way? I mean, both curriculum options are Biblically-based. Neither of them is bad. Just one of them is more right for our family right now. You know? Yet, it feels like a really big deal to be having to make this decision so quickly. Does my uneasiness mean that CC isn't the right choice? Or am I just feeling that way because I don't like being surprised and this feels way too much out of my planner's comfort zone?
Whew. If you think of it in the next couple of days, would you pray for us as we try to make this BIG decision? I'm praying that we'll be full of such peace on the whole idea that we can't help but know we're following where God is leading. I'd covet your prayers for the same thing.
Blessings friends!
PS: Dave and I finished the 10K last weekend with a smile on our face and holding each other's hands. He had to slow down for me (bless his heart...I messed up his previous two times), but we still finished in under 90 minutes (my first goal was 60 minutes, but my outside training runs quickly showed me THAT wasn't going to happen!). The pride in myself I felt after crossing that finish line was like nothing I've felt in a long time. Once we get this homeschool curriculum decision made, I'll try to come back here and write more of my thoughts on the whole race-running thing. It's significance is HUGE!
I think the way you tell it's God, is when you feel a sense of spiritual peace. Oh but...be careful. The world tries to offer you peace sometimes too, so you have to make sure that's not the type of peace you're feeling. It takes discernment to know the difference between spiritual peace and worldly peace. There's that word again (discernment). Oh boy. How do we do all of this discerning anyway?!
Here's how I think you do it. Bring this thing before God in prayer. The thing being whatever it is that you need God's direction on. You bring it before Him in prayer, and then you wait. That's the key: the waiting. You don't rush into anything. You give it all to Him in prayer and then you watch to see what happens next. And while you're waiting on His answer, you keep praying. And you stay observant. Why would you do that? Because God will sometimes use other people or our circumstances to speak to us. It's amazing how often you can pray about something and then begin to see little answers from God start popping up all over the place.
The one thing I know for sure you don't do when wanting God's discernment is to make impromptu decisions. Which is part of our problem. We have to make a decision on something within the next few days. That feels really rushed to me! But I can't tell if God is just asking me to make a leap of faith, or if this is really me trying to be hasty about a decision that isn't supposed to be made that way.
Right now Dave and I are smack dab in the middle of deciding what homeschool curriculum we're going to use next year. I thought I had it all figured out. I wanted to go to the homeschool convention this weekend to see this particular curriculum in person. I had researched it online (it's called Tapestry of Grace) and I really thought this was the one. I mean, I have been incredibly excited about this! But then, God turned my world upside down. He brought this whole other curriculum to the forefront (it's called Classical Conversations). It's a curriculum that, prior to Thursday night, I was COMPLETELY not interested in. I mean, it's SO different from the direction I thought we were heading with our schooling. It just has me thrown for a loop and completely freaking out!
You should have seen me at the homeschool conference. I kept walking back and forth between the booths of these two programs. I still really love Tapestry of Grace, but also still really feel God pulling me towards Classical Conversations. This is where you want to hear the audible voice of God! But since we can't, I'm doing everything I know to do to discern God's direction.
So over the last 48 hours, Dave and I have been doing a lot of praying about this. We've asked a ton of questions from the CC people, and received a ton of answers. I was starting to feel like we had this figured out, but the more I think about it...the less sure I feel! I mean....AAHHHH! We have to make a decision on this ASAP! I hate that kind of pressure!!
And so I go back to my original question: are you good at discerning God's voice? Well, if you are, would you share with me your pointers? How DO you know when it's God leading you a certain way? I mean, both curriculum options are Biblically-based. Neither of them is bad. Just one of them is more right for our family right now. You know? Yet, it feels like a really big deal to be having to make this decision so quickly. Does my uneasiness mean that CC isn't the right choice? Or am I just feeling that way because I don't like being surprised and this feels way too much out of my planner's comfort zone?
Whew. If you think of it in the next couple of days, would you pray for us as we try to make this BIG decision? I'm praying that we'll be full of such peace on the whole idea that we can't help but know we're following where God is leading. I'd covet your prayers for the same thing.
Blessings friends!
PS: Dave and I finished the 10K last weekend with a smile on our face and holding each other's hands. He had to slow down for me (bless his heart...I messed up his previous two times), but we still finished in under 90 minutes (my first goal was 60 minutes, but my outside training runs quickly showed me THAT wasn't going to happen!). The pride in myself I felt after crossing that finish line was like nothing I've felt in a long time. Once we get this homeschool curriculum decision made, I'll try to come back here and write more of my thoughts on the whole race-running thing. It's significance is HUGE!
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