Make Decisions With Confidence
Season 1. Episode 17.
Decision fatigue is real . So much of infertility and the treatment options that are available fall into the grey area of life and of Christianity. The list and depth of the decisions on this road are daunting. I love clarity, but so often we don’t get. Walking this road, especially the road of IVF, challenged me to create a decision making process and put rhythms in place to avoid decision fatigue. I did not create this process or these tips. I’ve learned from others that are a season ahead of me about what it looks like to make hard decisions with confidence, even when the road ahead feels so unclear. I hope these tips help you on your decision making journey.
Sometimes we won’t get clarity.
Clarity cannot be our end goal. In the decision making process, it’s often easy to idolize clarity. While I think it’s important to do the work to seek clarity in the decision, we ultimately have to trust that God is sovereign in all things.
Sometimes there isn’t a right and wrong choice.
Sometimes both choices are good and it comes down to personal preference. In the hard decisions where there isn’t a clear right answer, I pray hard for open and closed doors.
God says come to me and I will give you rest, not come to me and I’ll give you all the answers.
This is one of the really hard things about living on this side of eternity. There are a lot of things in this world that I wrestle with and don’t understand and wish I had more clear direction from God on. This is when trust comes in and walking closely with God.
It’s more about who you are becoming through the decision making process.
In marriage, these weighty decisions can bring you together or tear you about. This process can also bring about some really ugly things in our hearts.
Unity should be the goal in decision making if you’re married.
How are we working together? How are we trusting God? How are we surrendering the outcomes? How are we resting in the fact that we knows our heart and is sovereign in all things.
Fear is usually about something deeper.
My challenge for you is if you are feeling paralyzed by fear, dig into that and allow God to reveal what is going on in your heart.
Decision Making Tools:
Seek wise counsel
Prayer & fasting
Getting still before God
Set a decision deadline
Pros / cons list
Encouragement from Chapter 4 called The Grace of Your Story:
“But even in the midst of all of that darkness, there was always a light. Each time another wave hit, I was faced with a decision. Do I believe God is who He says He is? Do I believe His promises are true? And if I say I do, how does that look in my life? Does my life match what I say I believe?
Doubt crept in. Fear crept in. Shame crept in. I realized I needed a new game plan. I had been assuming life would be easy and good with only a few struggles peppered in. But that is not what God promises in the Bible. We aren’t promised easy or good. In James 1:2, James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”Not if, but when. I realized that I would always be mad and frustrated and feel resentful toward God if I kept believing that struggles were going to be rare. I needed to embrace the idea that there would always be struggles. I needed to look at my tory not as a “happily ever after” situation, but as an on going series of battles that, handled with faith, would grow and shape me to be more like Jesus. So that also meant that I needed to reframe the concept of grace in my mind.” - Give Grace book
Links:
Making Decisions podcast episode by Audrey & Jeremy Roloff
Making Decisions with Liz & Ben Bohannon
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