God As Our Guide
By Mallory Slocum
November 23, 2015
Do you ever have one of those days where you are wondering, what am I supposed to be doing with my life? I would be the first to admit that I have asked myself this question many times. For someone who is where I am now, this doesn’t seem like a question I would be asking. But it’s true. As I am nearing the end of another educational endeavor, in obtaining a master’s degree, I have been looking back on my journey that has brought me to this point in my life.
I used to believe that I was a person who knew what I wanted out of life and I knew where it was going. I have always know that I want to help people. The question is: in what capacity? When I was in high school, I thought that becoming a music therapist was the way in which I was going to do that. Then, when I didn’t get accepted into one of the best music therapy programs in the country, I felt that I needed to venture down a different path. This led me to Walsh University where I started out in nursing and then switched to psychology. I thought this is where God was calling me to be.
My life was completely changed when I was sitting in my first theology class. I came to life in that class, in a way that I’d never have before, and I desired to know more. So, I declared a second major in theology. I quickly enrolled in as many theology classes as I possibly could. It was at this point that I knew that I was where I truly belonged. I graduated from Walsh in 2012, with a bachelor’s degree in Theology. This coming May, I will be graduating, once again, but with a master’s degree. I know now this is where I was always meant to be.
The point that I’m trying to make here is that we may think we know where our lives are going to head, or we think we know where God is going to lead us. However, we have to stop and ask ourselves if where we are or where we think we are going is where God truly wants us to be.
I think back to the book of Ruth. She truly had a remarkable journey. Ruth and Naomi, her mother-in-law, at one point in their lives were almost certain they knew where their lives were going. They were happy with their husbands, and they were together. However, this was not meant to be so. Naomi lost her husband and then her two sons. So, she was left with her two daughter-in-law’s, Ruth and Orpah (both Moabite women) in the foreign land of Moab.
Naomi decided to return to Judah because “word reached her there that the Lord had visited his people and given them food” (Ruth 1:6, NAB). She realized that she needed to return to her homeland. At the beginning of the journey, both Ruth and Orpah were with her. She encouraged both of them to return to their families so they may begin new lives in the place that they have always known. Both were saddened to leave her, but it was only Orpah left Naomi. Ruth chose to stay with her. Naomi continued to insist that Ruth should return with Orpah, but Ruth refused. She told her “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16, NAB). Ruth made the choice to stay with Naomi and it was not a decision that she would end up regretting.
It was in the land of Judah that Ruth met Boaz and married him. It was here she became a descendant of David. Ruth had been dealt a “bad hand” in her life. At one point she was happily married and then she became a widow. She could have made the choice to remain in her homeland, but she knew it was not the right one. She trusted Naomi, and Naomi trusted the Lord.
As the people of Christ, we should “trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; in all your ways to be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NAB). We need to fully place our trust in the Lord and believe that he will be our guide. Had someone told me that I would be where I am today, I probably would’ve told them they are crazy. I saw my life going a completely different direction. Once I placed my trust in the Lord, I have not looked back on my journey with regret. I know I am right where I need to and God has brought me to this point. I know now that God has called me to be an educator. And I am grateful for that every day of my life.
If the question I raised earlier has entered your mind recently on more than one occasion, then you need to talk to God. Maybe He is calling you to ministry, or to be a Sunday school teacher, or something else. The Lord will not steer you down the wrong path. You just have to listen to Him.
