Listening to God

Today I had the honor of hearing my youngest daughter Sara give the Senior Moment at her schools weekly chapel. She did a wonderful job.

(She told us not to come and listen. So Sue and I had to hide from her. We listened from the hallway. It is crazy to think we would miss the chance of hearing her speak.)

Sara addressed the entire student body by explaining how she had recently come to a major decision in her life. A decision she was making because she thinks God is leading her in a new direction.

Ever since Sara was in 3rd grade she has been telling the world she would be an Elementary school teacher when she grew up. She has never wavered. Everybody Sara knew has heard about her plan to be a teacher.

Truth is Sara doesn’t waver very much on anything in life!

But in the last 6 month she has seen signs and felt God leading her in a new direction. As she considers the path for the rest of her life she now thinks she should go into Accounting.

Those of you reading this message are liking thinking “so what, Dave, she’s a high school senior. High school seniors nearly always change their minds.” I would tend to agree with you. Our oldest daughter, Anne, wanted to go into graphic design when she was Sara’s age but is now 7 months from getting an Accounting degree and our son, Mike, changed his major after his first semester. (I changed mine after 3 semesters).

But Sara’s move is significant for 3 reasons

Changing Sara’s mind is a big deal. Like I said above Sara doesn’t waver. She is focused and determined. Changing one’s mind might be seen as admitting to a mistake or drifting.
Admitting mistakes and drifting can make you look weak. Sara is mentally tough and not prone to looking weak. (No mystery where this trait came from).

Doing the same thing her Mom and Sister did is a big deal. Both Sue and Anne are accounting majors. Sara has always been more likely to be Ms. Opposite as opposed to following the pack. On one hand she has always done very well in her business and accounting classes and has always enjoyed them. But on the other hand being her own person in life led us to believe she would never consider doing what her Mom or Sister did.

She is clearly listening to God. The summary of the two reasons above lead us to the third reason. If Sara is going to change her mind or do the same things others are doing it must because she truly believes God is telling her something. She used scripture to drive home the point and explain to the audience why she was making this move. She laid it out in a very confident and convincing manner.

The bottom line and the best part of all is Sara is letting go of the steering wheel and letting God take control. She explained to her fellow students God is in control and we can trust Him to do what is best for us. It was very moving to hear somebody have such a strong faith. It is even more moving when the person telling the story happens to be your youngest child.