No matter where I have been going the last few weeks, I was constantly being asked: “I do not know my purpose in life. When did you find out what God was asking you to do?”  My response usually goes something like this: “Many days I feel like I have no idea if I am doing what God’s purpose for me is. Some days I feel like I am being thrown into the fire of the secular world.” At this point in the conversation, I usually get blank looks.

Discerning God’s Will for my life is no walk in the park. Many times, I feel like I am barely holding on, if that. Over the last few weeks, many people have been asking how I discern God’s Will. Let me begin with the disclaimer that I am sometimes fighting, kicking, and screaming at God. Sometimes, I do not want to do God’s Will. Other times, I surrender to what God is asking of me. At the end of the day, I always know that it is important to do God’s Will.

Discerning for me is about taking the time to have a relationship with Christ. I spend time in prayer, go to Mass, and look for opportunities to serve God. Yet, the trouble for discerning comes when God is quiet. Like many others, the quietness from God is not necessarily a bad thing. It means God is trying to guide us with that quiet hand. God is still watching us. He is just allowing us to grow. Many times, we look at discerning God’s will when the rainbows and sunshine are no where to be found. We are at the bottom of the sea and do not see the light. However, discerning God’s will is asking ourselves every day what is God asking me to do.

God’s will for us can be found in the little dilemmas we face each day. It is those little decisions that we make each day and think that they have nothing to do with the big picture. The little decision if I sleep five more minutes and then rush to get to work. The decision to sleep five more minutes and rush causes the attitude to be short. Telling people that I am too busy for them causes me to miss the opportunity to see God in others. By looking at every choice we have and every decision we make, it is those choices that are leading us to the big picture of doing God’s will.

Sometimes, it does seem like I am not doing God’s work. Sometimes, I wonder if God really knows what my purpose on this earth is. Yet, in all of the discerning we must always trust that God is walking with us.  God’s will for us needs to be a way of life. By having God’s will as a way of life, then each decision we make is either drawing us more towards God’s purpose for us or away from His purpose for us. Discerning God’s will is about allowing God in and knowing that it is okay to feel as God is no where to be found in answering what He wants us to do. We just need to look in the little things we do to truly understand God’s purpose for us.