Making life-changing decisions is stressful. Decisions about schools, jobs, relationships, family, moves, or major purchases bring big changes that take us into the unknown. Fear of making the wrong decision stirs up what if’s that take us captive with anxiety. Discover four biblical ways to calm your heart. Find deeper faith in the midst of uncertainty. Receive peace to settle your troubled heart because trusting Jesus in the process is the best decision of all. Heads up: don’t miss the free printable prayer & verses at the end of the post! *This article is a top five reader favorite from 2022.
This is for the one struggling to make a hard decision today.
Capable and strong, you are struggling in a way you never thought would. Decisions that seemed clear are now confused and complex. Listing pro’s and con’s isn’t helping you find the answer that feels right. You long to hear a direct word of guidance from Jesus, but you can’t settle your emotions to listen.
Paralysis by analysis holds you stuck in the stress of indecision. Fear is getting a foothold in your life. And you’re tired of it!
Have you been there? I have. More than once.
One of my children is in this hard place. I long to wave my magic-mom-wand, making everything better. In the pivotal, transitional decisions of life, a hug and a kiss on the booboo no longer calm her anxious heart.
Peace fades in the struggle to decide on the best option. These are the moments for trusting Jesus when uncertainty triggers anxiety.
May Jesus give us all grace trust and faith to listen for His heart in the decisions we face. Consider a few biblical ways to experience peace in the midst of life decisions.
1. Hold on to Hope When Making a Hard Decision
Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord!–Psalm 31:24 AMPC
Hope slips out of our hands when we can’t settle on a solution. It feels like the world will never be right again. Consider the relationship between strength, courage, and hope. In this verse, the Psalmist leads us to reverse our tendency to find hope because of our strength and courage.
Hope is the habit of expecting God to show up, anticipating that He will be true to His Word. #decisionmaking #peace Click To Tweet
Synonyms for hope include wait, expect, be patient, and trust. Rather than the presumption of entitlement, hope is a holy confidence in the character of God.
Because we hope in the Lord, we can receive His strength. This includes strength to make big decisions. With our eyes on Jesus, we take hold of what He freely gives–grace to be courageous. Hope brings strength to hold fast in the face of the uncertainty of life’s decisions.
As you wait for the Lord in prayer, what do you sense Jesus wants to say to you?
2. Choose Faith Over Fear in Decision Making
Regardless of status or situation, fear is a part of life. It isn’t a matter of if, but a question of when.
Facing hard decisions is stressful. Did you know that the fear of making a wrong decision has a name? Dicidphobia–yes, it’s actually a word and it is certainly a very real fear. Anxiety threatens to wash hope away in the torrent of life’s uncertainties. We need the light of Christ in the darkness of indecision and distress.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?–Psalm 27:1
In Psalm 27:1, David demonstrates simple but profound strategy for facing fear. Purposefully choosing faith over fear, David strengthens his confidence in God by reminding himself of truth: The Lord is my light and salvation.
A life-line of hope in the darkness of fear, salvation includes the ideas of deliverance, rescue, safety, welfare, prosperity, and victory.
The saving power of Jesus is for eternity, but also for the decision you face today. Click To TweetWe often forget the saving, rescuing, and victory-giving work of Christ in our everyday challenges. Consider a few ways we can experience salvation on a daily basis.
- Deliverance from the power of sin.
- Salvation from death to life.
- Rescue from ideas, habits, and fears that hold us in captive.
- Safety of knowing security as a child of God.
- Welfare comes through the provision and blessing of God.
- Prosperity to fully live.
- Victory in the midst of uncertainty.
Salvation is for this minute, for an hour from now, and for every day until time fades into the light of eternity. When the Jesus shines His light, let this truth change your perspective.
David asks the question we all need to ask on our hard days. “Whom shall I fear?” Other variants of this question include the following: What am I really afraid of? How is fear impacting me?
Ask Jesus for light to deal with the decision that instills fear in your heart today. As you listen, what new understanding does Jesus bring to your awareness?
3. Receive the Gift of Peace as You Make Decisions
Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful”.John 14:27 NASB
Peace is a gift that trumps fear and worry. Decision making can cause inward commotion, disquieting our thoughts with anxiety. This is the very essence of a troubled heart.
Our culture has many formulas for peace, or at least lots of ways to make us feel calm. The world’s false peace shimmers on the horizon, visible, but always out of reach.
When decisions create distress, receive the peace of Christ by faith. His peace is not pretend peace or distraction from working through the options. Receive peace that is the gift of Christ’s presence, not the result of making the right decision.
Trusting Christ within, you can experience His peace. What would it feel like to open your hands and your heart to take hold of the peace of Jesus right now, here in the pressure of decision making?
How could the gift of peace calm your heart to make your decision?
Ask Jesus how to receive His peace in this moment. What comes to mind as you settle your soul to listen?
4.Trust Jesus With the Process and the Outcome
Fear of making the wrong decision triggers stress of losing out on God’s best plan. We vacillate between choices with the mindset that there is only one decision that is God’s will. Today is the day to let go of fear of making the wrong decision. Click To Tweet
Sometimes God gives us choices that are not so simple as one is right and one is wrong.
God uses the difficulty of decisions to teach us that trusting Him is the best choice. Click To Tweet
The right answer is to trust Him because trying to figure out the perfect solution is leaning on our own understanding.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.–Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB
Trusting the Lord is a gradual process that often feels like a caterpillar struggling against the resistance of the cocoon.
Our limited understanding is tied to emotions, opinions, and perceptions. When we let go of the innate desire to have all the answers we experience the peace of surrender. Decide to trust Him even if you don’t make the perfect decision. Even if you feel like a mess in the process.
Jesus is bigger and better than the decision before you. #decisionmaking Click To TweetProverbs 3:5-6 is a familiar passage for seeking guidance. What if God wants us to trust He has a straight path even when we make mistakes or regret a decision? What if trust really comes down to letting go of fear of making a mistake?
The meaning of the word “trust” adds layers of blessing to this phrase that is easy to say but hard to do. Trust is the foundation of faith. Consider these meanings of the word “trust”:
- Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart.
- Be secure, without care, in the Lord.
- Be bold in the Lord.
- Feel safe in the Lord.
Trust is your best choice. You are secure in Christ no matter what happens. Be bold in faith to trust Him with both the process and the outcome.
What is Jesus saying to you about the peace of trusting Him with the outcome of your decision?
A Prayer for Finding Peace to Make Big Decisions
(Click here to download and print the prayer and the verses from this post).
Lord, today I choose to trust you with the uncertainties in my life. Help me to hold on to hope as You give me strength and courage of Your Spirit.
By faith I receive peace to believe You will make my path straight. You are bigger than my ability to know what is best in this decision.
Fill my anxious heart with joy and peace as I surrender my right to make the perfect decision. I don’t have to have all the answers because I have You. I choose faith and that is the best decision of all.
You are faithful and true. Today I give You my troubled heart in exchange for confidence that You will help me decide what to do. Pour out the power of Your Holy Spirit who sets my heart free from fear and makes all my paths straight.
I trust You to work Your answer into my life through the decision You lead me to make. Thank You for helping me make a good decision. I ask for Your favor and blessing to move forward with bold faith and a peaceful heart.
In Jesus’ name amen.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15: 13).
How can we pray for you as you trust Christ in the decision you need to make? What part of this post is most helpful for you today?
Don’t forget to print the printable prayer and verse list here.
More Posts with Free Printable Lists or Prayers
- Six Short Devotions to Help You Listen to Jesus
- 5 Simple Ways Silence Can Deepen Your Faith
- 10 Perspective Shifts to Free Your Heart From Fear
- How to Stay Focused in Prayer
- 10 Bible Verses to Encourage Moms When They Need It Most
- 15 Simple Ways to Overcome Distraction to Focus Your Attention on God
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Holy Choices Bring Peace to Your Life
Discover the practical power of intentional choices to trust God in the moment. This is your moment to deepen your faith and freedom in Christ. Read about my struggles with anxiety and practical ways God taught me to choose faith over fear. Learn more.
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