DECISIONS IN MY LIFE

DESIRE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

To grow in my
My life is firmly grounded in the fact that the reality of being a
ability to make
good choices when person is seen fully in Jesus Christ. “Just as I have come to
faced with do your will, O God” is the motivating force of his life, so the
important only real principle of choice in my life is to seek out and to do
decisions in my life. the will of God . . . With this habitual attitude, I find that I can
maintain a certain balance in my inclinations . . . I would not
want to turn away from God even in small ways, because my
whole desire is to respond ever more faithfully to God’s calls
FURTHER and invitations (Spiritual Exercises 166).
RESOURCES

2 Corinthians 13:5 SCRIPTURE

Galatians 2:20 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went
out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and
John 3:28-30 his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they
said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered,
Ephesians 3:20-21
“Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim
the message there also; for that is what I came out to do”
(Mark 1:35-39).

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all
that I have said to you” (John 14:26).

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in

weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for
whenever I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

. . . for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I

know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have
plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret
of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of
being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens
me (Philippians 4:9, 11-13).
 . . . for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to
will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

QUESTIONS SUGGESTION

What do I need to do to be ready to make an important decision? Make a list of the

decisions you
What can I do to provide the time, data, and reflection needed to anticipate you will
make a good decision? have to make in the
next six months.
How do I check out my motivation as I move into decision-making?

What circumstances have brought me to the point of needing to make

a decision? EXAMEN
PRAYER
What can I learn when I consider how my decision may affect others
with whom I live or am close to? As you consider your
daily responses, pay
particular attention to
AID TO DISCERNMENT the motivation within
you as you made the
Notice the pendulum-like swing of your thoughts, feelings, and response.
reflections as you are in a decision-making process.

Quite frequently we experience a time of alternating certainties and

doubts, of exhilarating strength and debilitating weakness, of
consolation and of desolation. As a matter of fact, this time is very
privileged, because the discernment of spirits which is called for is
an entrance into understanding a language of God spoken within our
very being. We can gain much light and understanding from the
experience of consolation and desolation, and so this time, too, is
very special for decision making (Spiritual Exercises 176).