It’s not unusual to experience discouragement on the road to holiness, especially when we live in a world that is filled with temptations and persecution. With God on our side, nothing the devil can do will ever prevail over us. However, it’s the moment we become too discouraged to ask God for help that the devil is waiting for. So how can we prevent this from happening?
Today, Fr. Mike explains the root of discouragement in our faith journey, and how to keep leaning on God through that struggle.
Sometimes in our discernment—especially over major life choices, like our vocations—we start second guessing our decisions. Sometimes, we make hasty decisions because we thought we “messed up” our discernment. But most of the time… the best decision is to “stay the course”.
As the scriptures says, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
Today Fr. Mike continues his series on vocational discernment and offers some helpful guidance on how and when to make life-altering choices.
Each day of our lives we make countless decisions. Many of them have small consequences, good or bad. But what about the BIG decisions we make, like what career to be in, who to marry, or what vocation to follow?
Today Fr. Mike delves into the four principles surrounding our vocational discernment and what to do if we feel like we’ve made the “wrong decision” in that area of our lives.
Fr. Mike offers the antidote of common sense for the anxiety that often comes after making a big decision. As a campus minister, he sees many students who feel like they made the wrong decision to come to college because things are not the way they imagined. To people in these situations, he advises them to stay the course. Paraphrasing St. Ignatius of Loyola and C.S. Lewis, he says to never change your course in times of desolation when that same course rang true for you in times of consolation. Give yourself a season, time to figure things out.
If you’re about to make a big decision and don’t know which course to take, or know someone who is in that situation, check out the new book by Jackie and Bobby Angel, with Fr. Mike Schmitz, Pray, Decide, and Don’t Worry: Five Steps to Discerning God’s Will, now available for pre-order: https://ascensionpress.com/collection
Signs are often tricky and fuzzy. They’re not always such a good tool for helping you make a decision.
Let’s be honest: we want shortcuts. We want God to do the hard work and make big decisions for us. Doing God’s will is the purpose of life, but that does not mean he is going to just reveal exactly what you ought to do. That would violate our freedom.
God speaks in clarity, not fuzziness. If he is telling you to do something, there will be no doubt that he is telling you. This kind of sign, however, is rare because in order to be a disciple of Christ—at some point—we have to make the tough decision to follow him on our own. There are steps that can help in this process:
1) Gather the data. 2) Seek counsel. 3) Weigh all the options and risks. 4) Take the responsibility for the decision you need to make.
If you follow those steps, the decision will be clear. God wants us to use our intellects to make decisions. He wants us to be stewards of our own lives. We can base our decisions on the facts rather than mere feelings and fuzzy signs.
If you would like more help making any kind of decision in your life, try the book, Pray, Decide, and Don’t Worry (http://tinyurl.com/yy6hk27j by Bobby and Jackie Angel with Fr. Mike Schmitz.
The angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her all about how she’d conceive and bear God’s son Jesus, and even when she asked how this could be, he elaborated. Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an angel show up and tell us what God’s plan for our life is?
But… that’s not how it went. The angel actually told her very little. And after Mary’s “fiat” (“Let it be done unto me according to thy word”), what happens? “The angel departed.” That’s it.
See, God probably won’t tell you what his plan is for your life. Not all at once. And Fr. Mike is here today to tell you why it’s actually better that way, and how we can follow Mary’s example of trust.
If it feels like God isn’t answering your prayers, that can be disheartening. But it can also be devastating.
Today, Fr. Mike offers the good word that your God is your loving Father who wants to give you good things. But he also offers the reminder that God is not a genie over which we have control.
When you clean and organize a room, you have to ask one very important question first: what is this room for? Once you can answer that, everything begins falling into place.
In order to direct and order your own life, you must ask that same question. What is your life for? What is the primary purpose of the one life you’ve been given?
Fr. Mike proposes that, when you can answer that question, everything in your life will begin falling into place for you. And he might even take a crack at answering that question for you.
Change is always hard. Transitions in life are difficult. Goodbyes are never easy. Endings are rarely joyful. But today, Fr. Mike suggests that beginnings are even more crucial. He encourages us to take 3 steps whenever we start over, and to let each one of ourselves “be a beginner.”
Be patient with yourself.
Don’t freak out.
And be willing to ask for help.
Fr. Mike has way more to say about trusting God, and a great place to start is his book Untroubled by the Unknown: Trusting God in Every Moment (https://tinyurl.com/25xulter) We hope it’s a blessing to you!
