Want to know if the idea in your brain is God's will? Use this simple checklist:

The comfortable thing about being married for a few decades is in knowing how your husband is going to act.  Like when summer hit and my man came home with this question:  Guess what’s back on the menu at McDonald’s? 

Yeah, he didn't have to tell me.  Frozen lemonade, I answered immediately. 

Once again we had a discussion about how $2 a day times 90 days of summer just isn’t in the budget.  He said, Well, surely it’s in the budget for a day…or…two…or three a week -followed by that boyish smile that works on me every time.     

The man has gone crazy for frozen, slushy drinks since our old 7-Eleven days and the Slurpees I used to buy for him back in college.  I know him. 

The comfortable thing about walking with God for three decades is that I know Him, too.  

So here’s how you know if the idea you have is God’s will:    

·        After much prayer and Bible study, an idea settles on your heart to do something that seems ridiculous.  Check.

·        The idea is seemingly impossible to carry out, and you have a long list of objections for how this isn’t going to work.  Check.

·        It’s gonna cost something –stress, money, time, courage, stress (did I mention stress?)  Check.

·        You feel afraid.  Check.

·        It requires resources you don’t have.  Check.

·        It requires prayer dependency –begging for help every second of awakeness.  Check.

·        There’s no way the credit would ever go to you for this crazy thing.  Check.

Oh yeah, I totally know how God works.

“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”  (1 John 2:17  NIV)

Are you pretty sure God wants you to do something, and you can check off everything on the list above?  Get used to it.  That list is as predictable as my husband pulling into the McDonald’s drive-thru in July.