Follow My Heart Or Follow God?

Life is full of choices. There are many paths to take and so many ways to lose sight of yourself or what you are aiming for. What is right in front of you can be missed because you are looking for something bigger. The beauty of the now can be eclipsed by the worry about tomorrow, or the regret of yesterday.

The choices we make are always going to have consequences; whether they're minor or major. And it is how we cope with the consequences of our decisions that define us as much as the choices we make.

For me the choice was follow my heart or follow Jesus. You may say that if I am a Christian, then are the two not equal? Does my heart not lie with Jesus? I can answer that in two ways. Firstly, I am a Christian and I have given my heart to Jesus. But, I am not perfect and there are still parts of my life, and parts of me that I need to learn to hand over to God. I have been struggling to understand why the heart would want things that I know God is very clearly saying "steer clear" to. It appears to make no sense. Why would we have a desire for something if God is saying "no" to it?

Being human, I gave up trying to understand. Not only that, but I decided that I would try things MY way. Needless to say I ran straight back to God, having completely screwed up and ended up realising that God's way is in fact a lot better for me than my way. Now, what counts, is how I face the consequences of my mistakes, because I cannot go back and change yesterday, but only embrace the present and improve tomorrow.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.  

 Proverbs 16:9

This is a verse I discovered today when I needed to escape and spend some time with God. I needed to pray and wait on him and it was probably, if I am honest, the first time where I truly did just that. I think the verse means that we have hopes, and desires and wishes within us, and God knows this, but unless God is at their centre, He cannot fulfil those wishes. I could plan to do something, but without God it is unlikely to come to fruition. This is why God is at the centre of my world. Sometimes this alignment goes askew and I ignore him; just as a child sometimes ignores their parents' advice. Things go wrong, but it is through these mistakes that I have learnt, and will continue to learn my most valuable lessons.