“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” —Martin Luther

As a senior in college, I felt overwhelmed by all of my options. Was I supposed to use my degree to teach in the public schools, do campus ministry, apply for Teach for America, or go be a missionary in a foreign country? The options consumed me. They were all that I thought about. In my indecision, I hid behind the question “What does God want me to do?” because I felt like I couldn’t make a choice until God revealed the perfect “right” one. The irony: I kept analyzing all my options to try to figure it out, but I wasn’t actually taking the time to lay my decision before Him and be with Him. It was as if I wanted His answer (preferably by burning bush, sky writing, or text message) more than His presence.

In my angst over figuring out the just right path, God showed me that it really wasn’t about discovering one right choice among a bunch of other “wrong” decisions, but rather about whether or not I was letting Him into my decision-making process. I needed to invite Him to guide me. For me, this meant going for lots of walks with God to talk to Him. During these walks, I found myself thinking more clearly. I could let go of all the factors playing into the decisions and let myself ponder with God what would be best.

How else did I let God into this process? Talking to him about each step! I followed the basic steps of decision-making like listing pros and cons and seeking counsel from those who were more mature in their walk with the Lord and who knew me personally. As I took these steps, I tried to invite God into each one. I brought my lists before God asking for guidance, and I surrendered the advice from others to the Lord, asking for discernment. During job interviews, it was up to me to pray that God would lead the conversation as He wills. And then, I had to trust Him to do so.

As I took these steps with God, I came to one of the most important final steps: making an actual decision! Throughout this process (of making lists, talking to others, doing interviews, etc), I decided that while yes, I wanted to do campus ministry, I felt God calling me home to be with my family right after college. My stepdad was recently diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, and it would suit my family best if I could be home with them as he started chemo treatments.

I took the first month after graduation to walk dogs and slowly started applying for substitute teaching positions until I received an offer that I accepted. Throughout my time of substituting, I continued asking God about the long-term because teaching did not seem like the right fit. The thought of working in campus ministry continued to tug on my heart, so I started to explore the possibility once again: another opportunity pray, trust, and let Him in!

By his gracious leading, God closed and opened the right doors. Within the campus ministry positions I was looking into, I only had one interview and received the offer for campus ministry here at Penn State.

Through my own process senior year, I’ve learned how easy it is to obsess over finding that perfect destination for what’s next that we may neglect one of the most important decisions we could ever make: the decision to simply be with God. As we spend time with God and surrender each step of our process to Him, He puts our decisions into perspective and reveals more and more of His will.

Psalm 46:10 reminds us “Be still and know that I am God.” As you go about your senior year, take some time to be still. Be still with God. And know that it is by His grace, His power, and His love that we are here. Rejoice that life goes on, even as we take a moment to stop doing things and just be.

Next Steps:

• Surrender your decisions to God. Schedule a block of time to be with Him this week.
• Take the One-Day Challenge: spend a day alone with God in prayer
• Go Vertical: check out these recent Calvary sermons and prayer resources