Ikeyb

Hi everyone... Knowing the difference between my will and Gods will is pretty difficult. How can I know when it's Gods will?

Dee74

Hi and welcome Ikeyb

I'm not a theologian but to me, if it feels right to do something - even (or especially) if it's difficult - then that's most likely God's will, and not mine.

You can use God for yourself or you can use yourself for God.

There's a world of difference there

D

Anna

I find that if I quiet my mind and listen to my inner voice, it will tell me what is the right thing to do. During (and before) my drinking days, I drowned that voice by being over-busy and with alcohol. So, it took some time to be able to hear the voice again. Have faith that you will reconnect with your soul and God's wishes.

D122y

Welcome.

Great question....

So many religious folks, like me, think they can pray on something and get the right answer.

Not always the case. Prayer helps. Faith helps. Nothing solves completely.

What is the will question?

If you are trying to stop drinking, you have come to the right place.

Mountainmanbob

Gods will
Will stand the test when exposed to the light.
Our conscience tells us this is the right thing to do.

Not Gods will
Preferred to be hidden in darkness.
Our conscience tells us that this may be a shady thing to do.
Our conscience tells us that this is a bad thing to do.
Our conscience tells us that, yes we can get away with that.

Will it stand the test of holiness or not?

MB

Fly N Buy

When my prayer life is on track I find my heart more conducive to acceptance and understanding of Gods will in my life. Typically whatever He puts in front of me daily turns out is what He wants me to do today.

I find His will isn't always some huge mountain top experience but what we do, how we deal with life down in the valley where we live.

Prayer / meditation and asking how I may be of service - never asking if things for myself - but what I can do to lighten another's load I find His will.

August252015

Oy vey (says the little Christian girl). This, today.

[Imagined dialogue as no, I don't hear God's voice out loud]

Me: "I do not want to call this law firm handling collection of my IRS
debt that I let build while drinking. When I didn't get or open mail at all, you remember."

God: "I remember. You need to call them."

Me: "It's been on my to do list for, um, a month now since I got the letter."

God: "Call them. You need to figure out how to address this. It will be hard and yes, suck."

Me: "Ok. I need to do this."

God: "That's what I said."

Post script: I called, the guy was nice and sympathetic and I got the basics of the situation, what my options are, what I have to do if I want to get this behind me. Bites of the elephant. Sucky, hard bites to swallow but I put the planned bites in motion.

I bawled when I got off the phone.

Pretty sure God heard all of it.

Do I feel better that I accomplished something? Yes. Do I feel sad and exhausted that I got myself here, and at what I have to do to get my fiscal life back? Oh, yes.

Pretty sure this was all God's will.

So, that's just one example of God's will in my life. Many many "Thy Will Be Done" prayers coming from me today.

[Thanks for letting me share.]

oldsoul112249

I'm learning how to rely on and trust my intuition. Call it a gut feeling or an inspiration. We will intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us. Big Book

Fly N Buy

Nice oldsoul......

I start my days with the morning prayer derived from page 86........God inspire my thinking, decision and intuitions........Guide me through this day and show me my next step.......

FormerWineGirl

I turn it over to God, and I pray.

Centered3

I have found that this takes practice. I meditate on it. I pause. I ask (prayer) God to direct me every morning and many times throughout the day. I try to listen to that "still small voice" inside of me. Intuition. Sixth sense. But I have to keep working on Step 10 so my ego/mind doesn't block me from it.

Sometimes I make mistakes, and that is okay. This is even written about in the big book.

Sometimes I try to just sit with the thought to figure out, is this a God thought or an ego thought? If I'm not sure, I do nothing. And then sometimes later, it occurs to me when I'm not even thinking about it. The answers do not always come to me during meditation, but later.

I find that when I act too quickly, it's usually not God's will. When I am feeling a sense of peace with the thought, then it is a God thought.

There's a book someone in AA suggested to me in which you meditate and you write out every thought you have. Then you follow a specific technique to figure out if it's God's will or Self will. It's called "How to Listen to God" by Wally Paton. There was a handout going around my AA meeting for a while from the pages that gave those instructions, so it might also be on line.

If the thought is honest, pure, from a place of love and not fear or ego, then it's God's will.