Your Decision Designs Your Future

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; (Deut 30:19 NKJV)

While reading an article about 15 celebrities who grew up poor, I saw a list of men and women who changed their circumstances despite the situation they were born into. The person with the least net worth (estimated $5 Million) on that list, Leighton Meester was born to a mother who was pregnant with her while in prison and had to give birth to her in a hospital and nursed her in a halfway house before returning to the prison.

How does one overcome such an upbringing and background to be worth that much at under 30? It’s called DECISION.

You can make a choice today about your life no matter what situation you were born into. What you are today is a result of the decision (choice) you made yesterday. Contrary to the belief of some, your decision, not chance, determines your destiny. You can tell what people believe in (through the values they adopt) by the decisions they make. Your future is ultimately determined by the choices you make.

Whatever choices you make are due to what you permit in your life so don’t complain about what you permit if it’s yielding negative returns. One of the biggest challenges you will face in life is to make the right decision in the choices you make.

Be careful about the decisions you make today because they will either produce in your future a Liability or an Asset. Abraham’s decision to go with the suggestion of his wife Sarah to sleep with his maid resulted in Ismael being born. This has caused the liability of the Palestinians who are today fighting the Israelites (the promised seed and asset to Abraham) for their land.

Watch your decisions! Never make permanent decisions based on temporal situations. There are four times you shouldn’t make a decision.

– Based on other people’s opinion

– When you’re under pressure

– When you’re weak

– Out of hunger and

Before making a decision, make sure it’s in line with your values, destiny and path which you want to pursue. I have on my phone screen saver a photo that says, Stop, Think, Pray, Listen because I decided to look for a photo that said this in order to set a reminder for myself. I had made a bad choice to call someone and challenge them about some wrong I had perceived was done to me. This ‘innocent’ call led to an argument (albeit minor), but that could well have been avoided because it ruined both of our day. My choice to make that call based on the decision of confronting a wrong led to an unnecessary argument. My solution was to place that reminder on my phone to avoid a future situation like that and I must say this is by far one of the best recommendations I have taken. Sometimes just stopping and praying a quick prayer and listening for God’s opinion about a matter can make a big difference to avoid future hurt or heartbreak. Make it a priority to listen to God to guide your decision making today and always.