In a pretty squirrelly way, I’m afraid.And when I say squirrelly, I mean floopy.You know, that weird in-between of over-thinking and running ahead that I tend to do.
I’ve had a decision in front of me for about three months.The deadline, all of the sudden though, is looming.The deadline, in fact, is tomorrow.
I haven’t been worrying about it, I don’t think, as I used to do in making decisions. But I have been sitting with it a lot, because it’s pretty big as far as decisions go.
The question before me is this: should I go on a four day trip to a pastors’ conference on AIDS in Haiti (déjà vu) AND should I bring my eleven-year-old son with me (zoinks)?
Even though it’s my blog and yesterday’s went longer than any of them before, I still do not have the time or space to go into all the minute details around this thing. Okay, actually, I just don’t want to.
So I’m simply going to share how I’ve attempted to decide this thing, keeping in mind, I’m not completely deciding until tonight-ish.
One, I have been praying. God promises in James that when we ask for wisdom, He will provide it. I cannot and do not want to make a decision like, should I take my son to a kinda dangerous place, without His wisdom.
Two, I laid the whole thing out with my husband, asking for his permission, input, and prayers.
Three, I asked dear friends to be praying for me. And they have been. I can count on it and I can feel it.
Four, I found a short list of great questions to ask yourself when making a decision that have been helpful:
What might this experience teach us about God?
What might this experience teach us about God’s plan, in the world and in our lives?
What might we learn about ourselves, and our lives’ purposes?
Five, just this morning, I made a pros and cons list. And on the pro side, I listed things off that could be considered “signs” (aka leadings from God). One of the sides has twenty-six things on it (this might be why I say I can tend to over-think things from time to time) and the other side has four. I will not tell you which side has which yet.
Six and final, this morning, I chose one of the decisions (to go or not to go) and I said it outloud to me and Jesus, and I am going to sit with it today as if it is my final decision to see what sorts of feelings bubble up inside of me.
Later, I’ll write about my final decision and how I came to it.It’s pins and needles time, people.
If this post encouraged you, I’d recommend you check out “One Girl, Third World,” found here.
