No matter where you’re at, or what season of life you’re in, all of us moments where we’re looking around for answers to questions like, “Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? Where am I called to be? Is this the person I’m supposed to marry? Is this the job I’m really made to do? Is this the city I’m supposed to live in? Are these the people I’m supposed to do life with?”

Discerning God’s direction for your life starts with knowing that God speaks, guides, and directs, and He uses these things to do that:

His word

His Spirit

His People

Your Circumstances

Listen in as Willow walks us through how to make big decisions in your life by tuning into the Spirit and taking action.

Isaiah 55, 8, 9 says about God that God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Welcome to the We Collide Podcast. We're a growing community of everyday chicks colliding with Jesus in our mess, our pain, our joy, and our stories.

We value showing up as we truly are, so that's what you'll find here. Walls and masks being torn down so that we can allow Jesus to meet us where we truly are and hear about other women doing the same.

We can't wait to collide with.

Hey there. Welcome to the Collide Podcast. This is Willow Weston.

I'm the founder and director of Collide, and I'm so glad that you came on to hang out with me today. Last week I talked about this exciting news that God just sort of laid out this opportunity for us to move into a space.

And that space is gonna be so amazing for all the work that God has called us to do. And it was this church of amazing story that I personally wasn't looking to have unfold. And yet it did.

And so I shared last week a bit of how my husband and I discerned whether or not buying this building was an opportunity that was being handed to us by God or whether or not it was something that should pass us by.

And it was such a cool story of seeing how the Lord over and over again confirmed that this is what we were supposed to do as a family and be able to buy this, this place, and Clyde is using it. And you can hear that story by checking it out, but that we're jumping off of that into this series on discerning the call of God.

And I know that no matter who you are, where you're at with God, where you're at in your life, whatever season you find yourself in, all of us have these moments in time where we're really looking and trying to figure out where it is. Am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? Who am I called to be? How am I going to get there? Is this the person I'm supposed to marry?

Is this the job I'm really made to do or the career that I'm made for? Is this the city I'm to live in? Are these the people I'm supposed to spend time doing life with? Am I supposed to say yes to this promotion?

We're always faced with decisions and we have these dreams, too, right? These dreams for our life. And I think we're often looking for signs or looking for ways to know if we're at the center of where God wants us to be.

And so I want to talk about that a little bit over the course of the next couple weeks. And I think discerning God's direction for your life starts by knowing that God speaks, God guides, God directs, and he uses these things to do that.

And I'm going to list out those things. He. He speaks through His Word, his spirit, his people, and your circumstances. So.

And I actually learned that in the first Bible study I ever did when I was a new Christian. I was 21 years old and had this radical conversion. And I did a Bible study called Experiencing God.

And it was super cool to learn so early on in my faith that God speaks, that I can spend time with him and look for him and watch for him, and that he is going to speak to me, that I can download from my God what He has for me to say, to know, to see, and to do. And so I think discerning God for your life requires you paying attention to those four things.

At the time that I started learning this, I was in college. I was getting my business degree, and I'd been dating a boy for several years.

And I planned on marrying him, and I was going to move to Vegas, where he was a pilot and make loads of money and go into the corporate world. And here I'd just given my life to Christ, and I was going to kind of drag Jesus with me to carry out my plans.

But at the same time, I started serving in this church. It was the first church I ever started going to, ever attended. And I was a youth leader right away, and I was investing in these girls.

I was showing up to youth group on Tuesday nights. I started leading a Bible study, even though I had never really read the Bible until this period of time in my life.

And I was reading it for hours before these girls would come over. And then I would teach them what I was learning, and I was blown away by what I was learning.

And then I started having this weird thing happen where I would wake up in the night with things that I wanted to say to these kids, and I'd have to write it down. And I had stories and illustrations and truths, and I was almost like I was preaching in the middle of the night.

I didn't know what was happening to me. And I think when something, a sense, a thought, a behavior, a feeling is invading your life, you need to pay attention. And then get godly counsel.

So that's exactly what I did. I went and got godly counsel because I was freaked out about what was happening.

What are all these words and thoughts and stories and illustrations that are coming out of my mouth? And I remember meeting in the food court of a grocery store with the pastor.

That was the pastor, the youth pastor of this youth group, him and his wife. And I sat there and I looked at them and I said, these weird things are happening. I started explaining what was happening.

Everywhere I go, like, I'm getting illustrations of things to teach young people, and I don't know what to do with all of this. And they looked at me and said, we believe that you're being called into vocational ministry. So I turned to this husband and wife for godly counsel.

And I did that because early on I learned, and I continue to know that this is true and this is how I make decisions. But Scripture over and over again talks about, when you make decisions, gather wise counsel.

And I went to these people that I trusted, and I trusted their voice in my life. Because, you know, I could have been going crazy, right? I could have needed medical attention.

I could have been making up weird things and manipulating them and acting as though they'd be spiritual. But thank God I had this wise counsel in my life to speak into what was going on with me.

And right now, as you discern what is, what it is that God is calling you to do or be my encouragement to use, to surround yourself with godly counsel. Surround yourself with people who seek God in God's ways and ask them to speak into your life.

Give them permission to come aboard the ship of your life. You can literally go and find someone and say, will you speak into my life? I need it. And trust yourself to wise counsel.

That means, don't be defensive, but be open. Allow yourself to be held accountable, and invite People to ask hard questions of you.

The last thing you want to do, and I know this is true, the last thing you want to do is botch up your own life, right? So come underneath wise people who can help guide and teach you. And don't just talk to people who tell you what you want to hear.

The last thing we need to do in life is go asking our friends who tell us we look good in mustard yellow when we don't look good in mustard yellow, right? Like, I think we go to these people hoping they'll tell us yes, when we want to hear yes and no, when we want to hear no.

And the last thing we need to do is go to someone like that and ask them if we should pack everything up and leave one thing to go do another. And they tell us we look good in mustard yellow. And yes, we should pack up everything and go if that's what we want to do.

No, we need truth tellers in our lives. Go find them. And when you do, hold on to them like they're gold. Some of the most misguided people that I've ever met lead their own life.

They make their own decisions. They do what they want to do. They don't seek counsel. And if they hear counsel, they don't pay attention to it.

Let me tell you what if God wants you to do something, God's people are all going to see it in you and through you, and they're going to point you in the direction you should go if all your godly counsel in your life is pointing you north and you want to go south. Honey, I pay attention to why it is you feel so magnetized to go against the advice and counsel of the people whose character you trust the most.

Do you hear me? Do you hear that?

Like, what is it that makes us feel so magnetized to go against the advice and counsel of the people whose character we trust the most?

So here I was, and I was meeting with Pastor Rick and his wife Linda in the middle of this grocery store food court, and I told them what was happening to me. And they said, you, we believe you're being called into vocational ministry. And I said, no, what's vocational ministry?

And they said, it's when your calling into ministry is a career. And I was like, no, no way. But the evidence of God's direction is all around us.

So when wise counsel points out something they see in you, we have to listen. It might not be the vision you had for yourself, but what if it's a bigger vision and a better life?

It was true for me that God was using me in this unexpected, surprising way with teenagers. It's true that I was seeking Jesus and I was inviting them to come. And their lives were changing right alongside mine.

And it was true that teenage girls were flocking to me and God was giving me spiritual insights to share with them. And those moments were turning them around in new directions as my life was turning around in a new direction.

But it was also true that I had my own plan and this idea of going into vocational ministry. This was not my plan.

But I look back to this point in time in my life and I now think, what if I wouldn't have paid attention to what God was doing in and through me? What if I would have carried out my plan?

If you want to discern the will of God for your life, then you best be ready to ditch your plan for a better plan. Isaiah 55, 8, 9 says about God that God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God's ways are higher than your ways. And you know what? Some of you are settling for the lower way.

You're settling for living in the valleys and the shadows. You're settling for doing your own thing and calling it, quote, unquote, your life.

But what if there's a higher way, a better way, a more feeling, fulfilling way, a way you were meant for God. Calling me into vocational ministry was a surprise to me. It was something I was not looking for. It wasn't something I even wanted.

Be prepared to be surprised by God. Scripture says that God wants to confound you by who he uses.

We talk about this in the yes you Bible study that you can check out on our store online at wecollide.net and I love that that God wants to confound you by who he chooses to use. If you're surprised by God's direction and call on your life, that probably means that you're on to something.

Sometimes I think that we think our call or our direction, our life, is determined by the way that's easiest, the way that makes the most sense on paper, or the way that will please the people we care about pleasing most. What God wants to do in our lives might actually blindside us. In fact, isn't that what happened with Saul?

Wasn't he blinded on his way somewhere and God completely redirected his entire life and what he did with it. I love this collision out of Acts chapter nine.

And I think we can draw something out of it for our own life today as we discern where it is God wants us to go and what he wants us to do. And the Scripture says, meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. So this guy Saul is a bad guy.

He's killing Christians.

And it says he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. And as he neared Damascus on his journey. He's on a journey. We're all on a journey, right? And.

And we're not expecting some of the things that God has planned for us. And the Bible says, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? This Christian killing Jesus hater was on his way to carry out his own plan. And God completely surprises him, right?

A light from heaven flashed around him. Try making sense out of that. This man experiences something that doesn't make sense. It's other than right. He. He heard a voice.

Now, that might sound creepy or scary, especially if you've never experienced it, but I think it's really a bit of how I felt that that season in my early 20s, when I'd wake up in the night with things to say that felt like they came from somewhere other than me. And in verse 5 of chapter 9 of Acts, Saul responds and says, who are you, Lord? And the voice says, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting.

He replied, now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. God says to this hater, get up and go, and you will be told what to do. Man, I love that.

I mean, how many of us are waiting to move until we know all the deeds? How many of us are waiting for our inbox to be filled with the itinerary for our life before we make any bold moves?

How many of us are waiting for God to say, travel 10 miles south, quit your job and say yes to the boy? A lot of us are paralyzed by inaction in our lives. And so often yet we see in Scripture, God speaks as we move.

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand into Damascus for three days. He was blind and did not eat or drink anything. Saul was completely blindsided by God, had to come under the help and guidance of others.

And I've seen this so many times in other people's lives and my own life. Sometimes God has to blind you where you can't see your way so that you will come underneath his absolute 180 direction change.

Sometimes God has to meet you in a hospital stay. Sometimes you have to get struck with vertigo and be laying on a couch for two months. Sometimes you have to get pregnant.

Sometimes you have to go through brain surgery to figure out what really matters.

If you feel lost, like you can't find your way, if you feel like you have absolutely no idea where you're going, if you feel like all you have are the hands of a few people who have your best interest in mind, then you're right where Saul was at.

And where Saul was at was a good place, even though it might not have felt like it, because it was on the other side of being completely blindsided, unable to see and struck by a command he wasn't comfortable with, that God was about to call him into what he was made to be and what he was made to do.

So if you're feeling blindsided right now, like you cannot see your way and you do not know where you're going, it's on the other side of that that you will find out where you're to go and who you're made to be. See, God moves heaven and earth for you and for me.

And this is why I think we need to pay attention to our circumstances and God's spirit and God's people, all while taking them back and comparing them to God's word. See, God was planning to call Saul, but he had to use Ananias to do it.

This is why it's so important that we pay attention to what God is calling us to do every day and every moment of every day. Because what if Ananias didn't listen or obey what God had called him to do? See, because we see what happens.

In verse 10, it says in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. A disciple of Ananias means someone who's learning what it looks like to live and follow God.

And God calls Ananias in a vision and says, ananias, yes, Lord? Ananias says, see, God speaks in visions. And we're going to talk about that in the next couple weeks.

The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on Street street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying, and in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.

Basically, Ananias was like, why would I do that? That guy's a Christian killer, right? He says, lord, I've heard many reports about this guy and all the harm he's done to your people.

And he's come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all of us, including me. Like, Ananias is freaking out, but Ananias is God's plan for Saul.

And what if you're God's plan for someone else, but you're not listening to what he has to say to you? Download what God has for you. If God asks you to go talk to someone, go talk to them. If God asks you to send a check, send the check.

If God asks you to fill out the adoption papers, fill out the flipping adoption papers, even if you don't have the money yet. And I'll tell you what, you cannot download what God has to say to you if your face is always glued to a phone.

You cannot download what God has to say to you if you aren't looking to hear it. Make space and time and be expectant. For a God who speaks, that's a key player in hearing God believing that he speaks.

We were doing a next step class, a collide Next step class one night several years ago in a church, and I think the topic was on baggage in relationships. And this amazing thing happened. I'm sure our class was awesome, because they are.

But after the class, what happened was so amazing and unplanned, something we couldn't have scripted or written or. Or made happen.

There was a woman who had come that was struggling, a woman who hasn't been a part of the church, hasn't really wanted much to do with Jesus, who has had a life of baggage. And she had come to one of our events because her daughter invited her.

And she left the event and made a list of all of her baggage and said to her daughter that she's never given herself permission to look at everything she's been carrying around her entire life. And she wanted to know what Jesus could do about all that baggage. And so she came to one of our classes that we hosted.

And after that class, she walked out of the church into the alley and went left. And another woman who goes to that church, who also attended our class, walked out of that alley and went right.

And the Christian woman who went right and started walking to her car heard God say, I want you to turn around and go talk to that woman that just left the class in the alley. So she turned around and caught up with the non Christian woman with all the baggage.

And she said to her, God just told me that you and I are supposed to have coffee. And that woman looked at her and said, what? God has told you, we're supposed to have coffee.

And the woman who heard God said, yes, God just told me we're supposed to have coffee. And those two women started meeting in a coffee shop every week and studying the book of John.

And it brought encouragement in life and hope to that woman, the place that she was in. If God asks you to turn around and go the other way than you plan to go, it might not just be for you, it might be for someone else.

And they might need it more than you'll ever comprehend.

In Acts, chapter 9, in verse 15, the Lord said to Ananias, go, this man, Saul, is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Man, I don't know, guys. Like when God says, go, I think we just gotta go.

Who knows if your life and my life isn't going to be used to call someone to be a chosen instrument?

Who knows if our lives aren't going to stir up something in someone that's going to create a movement that's so big it'll never be able to be measured? Who knows if our lives going to be used to change another person's life?

Well, Ananias goes to the house that he's told to go to, and he enters it and he places his hands on Saul and he says, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, a lot of people tell me that they don't hear God or they don't experience God. And I've thought a lot about why that is.

When God tells you to go, it's when you go that you experience more of God.

And when you experience more of God, you understand that when God calls you to risk or calls you to move or calls you to be obedient, and you say yes to some crazy thing he's asking you to do, it's then that you experience him. And the more you experience him, the more you know he speaks. And the more you know he speaks, the more you're trying to listen.

And then it's that you see, God is flipping real. God doesn't just show up and do magic tricks in front of your couch while you're watching the Bachelor.

Look, he told you what to do, but you chose what was comfortable. He told you who to talk to, but you didn't want to have the conversation. He told you what sacrifice to make, but you chose yourself instead.

And you're wondering why you don't hear and experience God. Hey, I know that's hard to hear, but I'm just trying to be straight up. And I do it, too. Ananias saw the power of God when he went.

God asked him to do something scary and he did it. And I guarantee you, Ananias never wondered if God spoke to his people after that.

So he goes into this room and the Bible says immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. He got up and he was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. This is crazy. Saul's completely blindsided.

He can't see for three days, and now scales fell from his eyes. This was one of Saul's greatest moments. He could see when you're walking and you have no idea where you're going.

It's scary as heck when you sense you're to go, when you have no idea how you will get there. That's crazy making. But because Saul went even though he couldn't see. He went even though he couldn't see. Like, can we just stop right there?

Because he went even though he couldn't see, he saw more than he could have ever hoped for. Saul saw that God had a plan and a call for his life. Saul saw that God comes down and moves heaven and earth for him.

And Saul saw grace in the midst of his crazy, horrible, horrific choices. Saul saw that God speaks and uses people and circumstances and God's spirit to do it. Saul saw a God who gives 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 100 chances.

Saul saw that God put your past behind you and hands you a future. Saul saw the life he was made for, and the life he wasn't was now in his rearview mirror.

And this man, Saul, started a movement that still impacts the world today, thousands of years later.

I'll tell you what, scales will fall from your eyes right after you say yes to walking blinded and allowing people to lead you to where God tells you to go. The Godly council was telling me to go into vocational ministry. And so was his spirit, and so are my circumstances, and so was his word.

As much as I was convinced I wasn't enough, that I. I didn't have what it took and I wasn't qualified. God told me otherwise. And I want to talk about that next week and, and carry on with that story of how I discerned this decision.

But for now, I want you to be encouraged in this. We have a God who speaks.

And like any other relationship, we have to make time to listen without all the distractions, without all the noise, without all the notifications. God has things that he wants to say to you. So pay attention. Pay attention to His Word and His spirit and his people and your circumstances right now.

If you're needing a word from God, if you're needing a go right or a go.

Laughter if you're needing a yes or a no on a big decision and you hear me laying out these four ways that he often speaks, my question is, are you paying attention to those? That might be your first clue where to lean in.

Maybe you need to make space to read the Bible or start reading the Bible and we have Bible studies that you can go through on our store. But there are countless ways to be in his word. I mean, geez, guys, we have Bible apps and there's also the good old fashioned Bible.

But there's so many helpful tools out there out there that you can turn to. Maybe start with Proverbs. If you're lost, just open up Proverbs. There's one proverb for every day of the month.

Sometimes I just read a proverb because Proverbs is the book of wisdom. And sometimes I'm just like a dry sponge and I need wisdom for my life and I come before God.

And if today is the 5th of March, man, I am just soaking up Proverbs 5 like it's my food when I'm starving. But the other thing is, maybe you need to get wise, counselor, in your life. And let me tell you what that looks like.

That literally looks like asking.

All you have to do is turn to some trusted godly people whose character you respect and tell them you look up to them, that you need their advice and that you're asking them to speak into your life. Give them permission to come aboard and then be paying attention to your circumstances. I totally know this is true of me, so I can say it to you.

Some of us are so busy, we have no time for self awareness. How are you doing right now? What are you sensing? How are you feeling? You have any holy discontentment or just plain discontentment?

What it is, is it that you're feeling called to, though it Feels scary. Pay attention to God and pay attention to yourself. Let's start there today and we'll pick up next week with more on discernment.

It's super fun to hear you guys write in to let us know how this podcast is blessing your life. And if it is, will you share it with a friend? And even more, will you consider going on itunes and giving us a review? Your review?

That sounds super simple, but it actually helps share our podcast with other people. And we just want more and more people to collide with Jesus and have their lives be changed. So if you could do that today, we would love it.

We're so glad that you joined us.

If you want to check out more about what we have to offer and how you can keep colliding, check us out on our [email protected] and I hope this week that as you start to pay attention, you start to hear and see and feel a sense as to the direction you're supposed to go.

I'm going to pray to close us, God, I pray that you would guide us, Lord, even if we can't see, give us the courage to walk, to move towards where we sense your guidance. God, will you put some people in our lives this week to speak into where we're at? We need it, Lord.

Will you encourage us by your spirit and by your word and God, if there are circumstances in our lives that are hard, will you speak to us through those? God, what do you want to say to us through the hard places?

God, we thank you that you speak, that you guide, that you love, and that you blindside people that don't deserve mercy. And you shower them with mercy and give them a new life and call them to amazing things. You're an amazing God. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Have a good week, guys. We'll catch you next week.