How to Discern God’s Will (Part One)

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My Yoke is Easy and my Burden is Light.” (Matthew 11:30)

After a whirlwind couple of years, the speaking schedule slows down to a halt after July. While we all need seasons of rest, I still feel like my calling on this Earth is to help women overcome past dysfunction and trials through spoken messages. So I prayed for the Lord to provide additional opportunities. Yesterday, out of the blue, I received an invitation to lead a women’s conference in 2017.

Thrilled about the possibility, I prayed about it on my walk, and the Lord began to show me how to organize the messages, and even gave this non-artsy crafty person a powerful art project idea that will drive one of the messages home.

I am realizing more and more that when something is God’s will, he provides everything you need. You don’t have to push and force, labor, and worry. When it’s of God, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

I saw this concept come into play several times this week.

I volunteered for a women’s conference at the church we are visiting. Since I didn’t know anyone, I thought, by serving, I’d meet some of the ladies there. The church administrator asked, “Are you a member?” “No.” “Are you planning to attend the membership class?” “I think so.” In order to volunteer for the conference, I would have to hurry the membership process along, and that did not seem like the right thing to do. I realized serving at the conference this year was not God’s will. The doors did not fly open. The yoke did not seem easy.

Conversely, over the past few weeks I’ve come to the conclusion I need to work, at least part-time, but it’s difficult to find rewarding, interesting jobs in my skill set that are part-time. I just wasn’t ready to go back to the kind of jobs I worked in college to make ends meet.

I applied for one full-time position (I really didn’t want to work full-time), when the ministry I’ve been volunteering with came through with a 20-hour per week part-time offer. Wow! This came so easily. I realized it was God’s will that I work, and he provided an opportunity that utilizes my giftedness. It’s a familiar place I already know and love, and my new employer will work with my Pearls ministry schedule. I knew this was God’s clear direction.

So as you determine God’s will for your life, here are some questions for you:

Do you feel like you are forcing your way to what you want?

Is there constant frustration?

Consistent roadblocks?

No Joy?

Then it’s probably not God’s will.

But, if the ideas flow.

The doors fly open.

You feel extreme favor.

And everything falls into place.

You are probably right where you need to be.

When we take our own yoke upon our lives, there is no peace.

But his yoke is easy.

His burden is light.

Examine the yoke.

It’s one way to determine God’s will for your life.