Because in running toward what I thought was better, safer, more pleasurable, more fulfilling, less painful, less complicated, or less confining, I've actually been running from God, from His will, and from His blessing. And I'm tired of running. Aren't you?

Sometimes--well, maybe always--we just have to take it on faith that God knows what He's doing.

If there is no God, we know there is no ultimate meaning or purpose to life: that all existence—including, of course, our own—is the result of random chance.

Belief in God means more than believing God exists; it also means believing God cares about us. After all, if God exists but doesn't care about us, what difference does it make to us whether God exists? For all intents and purposes, there is no difference between atheism and the existence of a God who doesn't care about us.

So the desire you have, that itch that you have to be whatever it is you want to be … that itch, that desire for good is God's proof to you sent already to indicate that it's yours. You already have it. Claim it.

The chances you take… the people you meet… the people you love… the faith that you have — that's what's going to define your life.

The decision that the man was to marry proceeded from God, not from the man.

When this happens, something "clicks" within you, and you know you have found what you were created to do. It is an instinctive, gut-level, spiritual experience. You'll know it when you see, hear and feel it.

When you commit yourself to God's will without reservation, God becomes responsible to provide for you.

When you think about renouncing your own will and embracing the will of God, let me suggest you bear three truths in mind. First of all, God loves you more than you love yourself. Second, God understands you better than you understand yourself. And third, God wants only the best for you. When you truly yield to God's will, you will discover that it is what the Bible says it is: "good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Your calling is not an afterthought. God does not save you and then say, "Now what am I going to get him to do? What job can I give her in the church?" God saves you because He has a purpose for you.

Somewhere deep inside us we seem to know that we are destined for something better than strife.