How do you know when...?

I had the privilege of spending a significant amount of time last week with a dear friend who is struggling with her past, present and foreseeable future. She has been through so much pain and loss. Her healing journey has not been easy, but God is at work. I have been blessed to be a part of watching her life be transformed by the Mighty One!

What an exhausting yet exhilarating time we shared. At first, I felt I just didn’t have it in me to sit and dissect all her emotions and thoughts. I have so much going on personally. Honestly, I felt as if I was going to go mad over all that I have on my plate. But, God knows where my time and efforts should be spent, and He carved out three different times for us to meet. Even though our subject matter was very difficult and I did not have the tools to fix her challenges, our time together was such a blessing. As I meet with individuals who are feeling paralyzed by their circumstances, I have to surrender my natural tendency to “fix” it and allow God to guide my words. At the end of our conversations, I felt as though we had worked through some of her issues, but I also felt God working within me. One of her biggest questions was, “How do you know when you are in God’s will?” Now that was something I really had to ponder!

I began to reflect on how I know that right now, I am in God’s Will. First of all, even though tough things happen and curve balls are being thrown my way often, I feel joy and peace. I was reminded of this last week when Oswald Chambers said, “It is an insult to use the word happiness in connection with Jesus Christ. The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do (August 31).” There are some days I wish I could just be happy, but happiness is usually a temporary feeling that comes and goes. Joy and peace last and if I don’t feel these two fruits of the Spirit, I can pretty much guarantee I have stepped out of His Will. In the past, I have often found peace and joy after hours or days of completely freaking out. Now, I feel pangs of fear when challenges come my way, but they swiftly dissipate as I pray and read His Word. It is then that I recall God’s promises of being faithful, true, my protector, my deliverer, my counselor, and so on…

One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 27: 3-5, NIV