One of the things I appreciated about Andy Stanley’s book Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets: 5 Questions to Help You Determine Your Next Move is the second question, “What story do I want to tell?”

As he points out, all of our decisions do not simply stay decisions. Instead, they one day become stories.

The decision for which high school you went to (maybe not even your decision) became a series of stories in the future.

This idea framed for Katie and me our decision to move from Arizona to Massachusetts. I’ll get to more detail on that in a couple of weeks.

But the story question is the legacy question. It is the moment where we pause to ask, “When this simply becomes a story, what story do I want to tell?”

If you’re a follower of Jesus, you often ask the question about God’s will for your life. And while I don’t think it is as mysterious as we make it out to be, there are some things we can do to help us make decisions each day that lead to a story we want to tell and honor God.

But how do we make sure that our lives are so close to Jesus that when we make decisions, they align with what God has called and created us to be and to do?

Here are some simple ways to begin seeing God speak and move in your life and stop resisting His voice:

Here are some questions I came across a few years ago that will help you tell a better story with your life and see what God’s will for your life might be:

1. What are your passions and gifts? At the intersection of these two elements, you’ll find your purpose in life.
2. What would you work on or want to do for free? That is usually a good sign of what God has designed you to do.
3. What energized you when you were a child? Does it still animate you? Knowing your calling is often directly connected to childhood passions and gifts.
4. If you could do anything and take a pay cut, what would that be? Unfortunately, you may have to blow up your financial goals to pursue your true calling.
5. What barriers are preventing you from pursuing your true calling? Can you begin removing those?
6. If you aren’t engaging your gifts and talents where you find yourself now, could you change your current role to engage those better? Don’t rule out the possibility that you are where you need to be.

I’m praying for you this week as you decide to tell a better story.