God vs. Friends

I have a tendency to talk to most/all of my friends about anything serious going on in my life. However, I’ve started to wonder if this is my way of taking control of whatever issue I’m struggling with. I thoroughly love the instruction to get advice from other Christians, but I think in doing this, I fail to return to the Father and ask his advice. I assume that all the advice I’ve gotten covers all the bases. There is no other input that could be conjugated into rational thinking. This thinking is probably what has made me falter on so many different occasions. For example, I’ve learned a lot about being a Godly man over the past few months. This study stemmed from a hardship, and I was determined to follow God’s path for it and not take control again. My life steadily improved. My faith was strong. My emotions under control. This was all going well until hints of the first test came along. I failed miserably. I immediately started thinking of what I need to do next. I sought counsel from those I trusted and those familiar with the situation. I formulated next-steps. I did everything but stop and pray. Even in just the few hours interim where I failed to ask for God’s help, things started to unravel. Maybe, if I’d have dropped to my knees first and not tried to take hold of the situation, I could have made a better last impression. I could have saved myself 24 hours of worry and scheming. Learning to give issues to him first is going to be more of a challenge than I thought. It will require a shift in my methods, attitude, and personality. A complete life-shift is necessary.

All that being said, does that mean that I failed the test? Will the event I saw on the horizon yesterday be lost due to my immediate retrograde back into my old ways? I sure hope not. I’ve only prayed now. All that I worried about I’ve asked God to handle, and short of this blog, I’ve tried hard to quit even thinking about it. I want his will and not mine. I want his guidance and not that of other’s. I want his comfort and not that of my friends. I want Christ’s love and not the love of another.