Don’t be disappointed at not having been in a serious relationship yet. I know the society around us puts on a lot of pressure for young people to get into serious relationships but often that is premature. Far better to develop and invest in friendships now so that you can discover what kinds of personalities you connect well with. There will be plenty of time on your life to allow those friendships develop into something more serious.

I am convinced that God has a clear plan for our lives and that He is generous in the way that He communicates what that plan is to us. When He wants us to take the next step He will be sure that we know what it is that he wants. Our job is not to try and decipher what that next step is but rather to focus our attention on Him. As we do that we will then be ready for His directions and be prepared to respond in obedience even when that step is a scary one. God will let you know who He wants you to be in a relationship with. So spend your time and focus on knowing Jesus and listening to His voice leading you. Jesus said, “[The Good Shepherd] has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice.” (John 10:4) Jesus is ahead of you and calling to you to follow Him. Focus on His voice and He will lead you exactly into His best that He has planned for you. That includes the best relationships for you to be in.

Lord God I thank You for your daughter Carmen and the way that You have placed within her a passion for You Son Jesus. I ask that she would have the confidence of knowing His voice speaking into her life and that she would have the courage to follow no matter how intimidating the path may be. Give her a single-minded focus to follow after Jesus and to know You better and better each day. Would all of her relationships help contribute to that priority and bring immeasurable joys to her life. Amen.

I can understand your fear of not having the finances that your fiancé has provided but that cannot influence your willingness to obey God. God is able to provide for all of your needs and He does not do that by asking you to compromise His commands and instructions.

Heavenly Father, I pray for Emerline. Lord she needs Your help to follow Your directions for her life and relationships. If this is the man that You want her to marry help him to make that commitment. Give Emerline the strength to say “no” to sex until they are united in marriage. Provide for Emerline’s financial needs with a job or some other source of income. Amen.

Your question is a good one: discerning God’s leading in our lives is a crucial component of our relationship with Jesus. I think it is first of all helpful to look at the clarity of God’s communication with us. When He wants to get a specific message across to a person or group of people is He more than capable of communicating that with clarity. He has a myriad of ways that He communicates His messages to people. He has used prophets, angels, a donkey, the created world around us, written text, etc. And for the climax of His communication with us He came Himself in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t get any clearer than that! So if you are waiting for Him to answer your prayer you can be sure that when He wants you to know the answer, He will communicate it clearly.

Secondly, it is also helpful to know that God has a plan for us and wants for us to follow Him. Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd and said that we, His sheep, hear, know and follow His voice (John 10). Paul encourages us to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) which means that the Spirit leads us step by step in life. I love the way Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has designed each of us to accomplish specific things and created the opportunity for us to do those specific things.

Putting the two of these things together leads us to the conclusion that if God wants us to accomplish certain things, He is going to clearly communicate how He wants us to proceed. Bringing this a little more personal Angie, God has a specific plan for you around the issue you have been praying about and when He is ready (or maybe when He knows you are ready) to carry that out He will give you clear directions for what He wants you to do.

If that is the case, when you are in a place where you are unsure of God’s direction it is either: 1) that He has not yet revealed His purpose for you and you need to continue to focus on listening to Him; 2) that you are ignoring what He has said or are in a place where you are no longer listening to His voice. In either case, the way forward is the same: ask for His help, trust that He will and do those things that tune your heart and mind into His voice (prayer, Bible reading, interacting with other followers of Jesus, and serving Him by serving other people. When you engage in these activities it helps to focus your attention on God so that when He speaks you are ready to hear.

Lord God I pray for Angie as she struggles with this issue in her life. Father I ask that she would be open to what You are saying to her and that she doesn’t have things in her life that are distracting her attention from You. I pray that You would be preparing her to hear from You and to have the courage to be obedient to You when You do direct her path. May this time of waiting deepen and mature her relationship with You and may she be an encouragement to others on the way. In Jesus’ name, amen.