Transcript

How could I know God’s plan for my life?

When I do marriage prep, I like to ask the couple, “How many children would you like to have?” He’ll say, “Well, I’m hoping for this many, but she’s hoping for that many.” And I’ll respond, “That was a trick question. How many children does God want you to have?”

They’ll respond, “I don’t know.”

Well, yes, of course. God rarely lays down his cards on the table. He knows that if he did, we would say, “thanks God, bye. I got everything I needed out of you.”

Could you imagine going to a doctor’s, telling him everything that’s wrong, and then leaving before he can respond?

That’s often how we treat God in our prayer.

Discerning God’s will takes time. We have to sit with God. And sometimes, like Jacob, we got to wrestle with God. Sometimes when we hear nothing, it’s because God is not speaking.

God’s love language is quality time. He likes being with his children.

So, first and foremost, we need to make time to hear God.

I know people who consume a dozen hours of media a day. And then at Mass on Sunday, they hear an 8-minute homily.

Are we giving God a chance?

Next, we need to reach a certain level of spiritual maturity. When a young man is discerning the priesthood, when he has reached the point where he can honestly say, “Priesthood? I could take it or leave it. Marriage? I could take it or leave it,” he has reached a level of spiritual maturity where he is no longer getting in the way confusing his voice with God’s.

He is now really set to hear the Lord.

Lastly, generally speaking, God’s plans give us peace. The Lord’s Peace. Other things give us anxiety. If one option makes us feel calm and at peace, while the other one leaves us in a tizzy, the first option is probably from God.