When God directs our paths..

I am up to my noggin' discerning God's will and direction in my immediate future. As I listen for God's voice and look for God's finger pointing me in the direction I oughta go, I have been thinking about all the ways God has directed my paths in times past.

When I was younger, God allowed me to lay out specific fleeces and to interpret them accordingly. I used to be mighty specific and God would always (I am serious) allow this method of discernment. But then, as I grew older in my faith (I am hesitant to say "grew maturer" because I sometimes wonder exactly how mature I am in my faith), I learned that God desired that as my faith grew, the methods of my discernment needed to change.

Growing older, I found discernment through the wise and experienced people around me to helped guide me in the decision- making process (as well as laying out the occasional fleece) so that the choices I made were thought-out and understandable.

Then, in recent years, my discernment process involved a mental conversation about how I best understand where God is leading, and engaging that process to recognize the signals (and sometimes goofy signals) that helped me see how whatever decision would affect me.

Now, I find that my discernment process is changing yet again. This time around, I am interpreting all sorts of inspiration. From wise people who surround me, to mental conversations to imagining "what if" scenarios, to the occasional fleece, to remaining aware of apparent "coincidences" that happen around me as the decision deadline looms. This time around I am incorporating all signals in my spiritual lifetime to really think how these decisions will affect me.

In all of this, I have noticed a definate progression of spiritual growth and change. It is as if there has come a time when my faith must be entirely engaged to the situation and I must take full responsibility for it. A part of me misses the days of my young faith when it needed only simple direction- now is the time when God has prepared and taught me how to make complicated decisions trusting that God will lead me wherever I go.

Since I am interpreting so many different angles and experiences, please pray for me as I work out my faith and discern some really tough decisions- both personally and professionally.