destiny?

What is destiny? Are we, am I, destined for something I have no say in, something decided before I even came into this world? Or is a person’s future based on the combination of their past experiences, passions, aspirations and the environment they live in?

Does God have a specific plan for what I’m to do with my life, or should I just follow my heart and embrace my own passions and desires?

From growing up in the church, I’ve been socialized to believe that God has every moment of my life, and every other person’s life, planned out. But I’ve also grown to believe that it’s not God’s desire for people to go to hell. In saying that every moment of one’s life is predestined, then it would be inevitable for some people to escape hell.

Maybe destiny is not just what we do with our lives, but the experience and passion that we feel in our spirits. Then, these (maybe?) predestined characteristics determine the roads we take in our life and the circumstances we find ourselves in. If that is the case, it would make sense with what I have grown to believe in – God having a plan for our lives and cementing the foundations in us – foundations of character – and then giving us the free will to, as the expression goes, “choose our own destiny.”

But are we really choosing our own destiny? Because if our “destiny” is based on our character, personality, passions and aspirations, they are founded in us by God, and developed through the environment in which we find ourselves in.

So, when we are in relationship with God, we recognize that He is our source and he has given us these things that our hearts desire. And when we live in accordance with God’s Word, loving God with all our heart, soul and mind, and loving our neighbors as ourselves, the desires of our hearts should naturally fall in line with God’s Word, and I think that is what he would destine us for.

When we are living our lives in love, God can use us wherever we are, in any circumstance, all for his glory!