After the Decision

Last week we looked at 25 questions that should be asked before you make a life changing decision.

Let’s talk about the kind of outlook you need after the decision is made.

Perhaps the best way to do this is to illustrate with a personal example. In early 2006, my wife and I moved from Sydney to Cairns (over 2500kms north). I was 30 years old at the time and had spent my entire life in Sydney.

We moved because we believed the Lord was in it. In Cairns, there was a good Bible preaching church to serve in and there were a few people we already knew. I would need to find work, and my wife had to build up her music studio from scratch.

For the first month we lived out of a suitcase (well, we had a couple) at a church family’s home. On the weekend of the move into our rental house, Cyclone Larry hit and devastated nearby towns (and also gave us the fright of our lives). We were in a new city, a new house and a new church, and to be honest, feeling cut off from all we knew and loved.

Let me tell you about some lessons that we learned from those early days:-

1. God never reveals the whole picture at once. He meets you one step at a time and slowly unveils His master plan as you walk by faith.

2. The master plan is more glorious than you could ever have asked or thought!

3. The will of God is as much about personal character development than a change of scenery;

4. The grass is not greener in another paddock- a different blade perhaps, but not necessarily greener;

5. We tend to think that ‘moving’ in the will of God guarantees a picnic or party, rather than a new battlefield;

6. Expect the unexpected- and make the most of these opportunities to serve!

7. Getting right out of your comfort zone can be exhilarating and fearful at the same time. The issue is not how we feel-but that we are doing what God has called us to do.

8. The reality of the grace of God. A visiting preacher who was in Cairns when we first arrived said to me, ‘God does not take you down any new paths without also revealing the depths of his grace’.

9. The encouragement of true friendships in a new place.

10. Doors of opportunity to serve that I thought would be lost by moving so far ‘from the action’ have opened again. The Lord returned what first had to be surrendered.

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:…..Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. Hebrews 10:36&38

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