Blog Post

Why is Discerning God’s Will So Hard?

Even though all of us were created by God to do Him some definite service in this world, the reason why some of us find it so difficult to discern what that service is supposed to be is because we have a tendency to over-complicate the discernment process. Maybe this Lenten season is the time to get rid of that bad habit.

St. John Henry Newman summed up the truth for all of us when he said: “God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission.”

When I first read this, I wondered, “Sounds easy the way he puts it, but does this mean only saints can figure out our mission in life?”

Not according to Scripture. The Lord tells us over and over again that He has a specific plan for each of us.

For example, in Jeremiah we encounter that famous verse, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

God also tell us that, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you…” (Jeremiah 1:5).

St. Paul wrote in the Letter to the Galatians that “from my mother’s womb” God set him apart and called him through His grace (Galatians 1:15).

According to St. John Henry Newman, these verses apply to all of us, which means that everyone who is reading this blog right now has been created to live a particular life that God commissioned specifically for you.

This begs the question, if God gives us a purpose so important that no one else can perform it, why does He make it so hard for some of us to figure out?

The answer is simple – He doesn’t - but we do.

I’m going to host a webinar on Tuesday evening, February 25, entitled “Discernment of Spirits for Lent and Beyond” which will address all of the ways that we over-complicate the discernment of God’s will for us, from our propensity to get too wrapped up in the minutia of life to being unable to discern which spirit is influencing our decisions – the natural spirit, God’s spirit, or the devil.

As St. Ignatius teaches, proper discernment must start from the right foundation, be approached with the correct disposition, and aided with the means the Church gives us. Once we have these steps in order, we can apply the three “modes” of discernment to determine what God is willing for us.

This one-hour presentation will cover all of these topics, plus delve into issues peculiar to women and discernment. Because of the pressure put upon us by a culture that imposes impossible standards upon us, women have a tendency to “buy into” the devil’s lies about who we are and where we stand. These “lies” are like curses that we inflict upon ourselves that can cloud our ability to hear God’s voice calling us to live as daughters who are precious and beautiful in His eyes. At the conclusion of this webinar, we will break these curses and set ourselves free to live the life God intended for us since before we were ever born.

Join us on Tuesday night at 8:00 PM EST. Click here to sign up!

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