Finding God's Will for You

In this short book, Saint Francis de Sales helps the Christian to discern God's Will. While this is no small order, the height of perfection in the Christian life is indeed nothing other than simply willing only what God wills and making your will the same will as God's will (cf St Alphonsus's Uniformity with God's Will). In theory, this is very simple. In practice, the difficulty of course becomes discerning God's will. Once can be prepared and disposed to do God's will ("My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready!") yet not know precisely the content of God's Will. That is where the "Gentle doctor" come in. Known for his gentleness yet solidness in his teaching, St Francis de Sales gives us practical, every day advice in order to help us not only discern God's Will, but abandon ourselves to it. Part of what we learn, for example, is a "holy indifference" in all things, especially the sufferings and crosses we face in our daily lives. What better to know than when we are given a cross that such is God's Will for us! In that sense, discerning God's Will is quite easy. Holy indifference goes beyond "resignation" which Saint de Sales defines as "preferring God's Will above all things, yet it does not cease to love many things in addition to God's will." We can be resigned to God's Will, yet still have affections and preferences for certain things. This we must let go of.One thing in particular that I found extremely beneficial in this book is the distinction between a command and a counsel, found in chapter 1. First, Saint de Sales proves that true love of God implies love of his commandments, a truth that is often forgotten today. If we really love God, we will love everything that he commands, and embrace it totally. We must embrace the commands and accept them, not as "a sick person takes medicine" by forcing it down and tolerating it out of a fear of hell, but rather, our motivation for keeping the commandments should most perfectly be love of God. "The more difficult they [commandments] are, the sweeter and more agreeable it [the soul] finds them, since this more perfectly pleases the Beloved and gives Him greater honor." (p. 20) By contrast, a counsel is a recommendation which uses friendship to persuade and exhort. "All counsels are given for the perfection of Christian people, but not for that of each particular Christian." (p. 24) This explains why there are certain teachings of Christ in the bible (counsels) that are not necessarily binding on each individual man (e.g. `sell all you have' is a counsel, not command). Commands are absolute, but counsels are ruled by charity. Hence, if we do strive to fulfill God's Will perfectly, adhering to many of the counsels (if applicable) brings us closer to that goal. Another very interesting chapter is Chapter 3 "Following God's Will in making decisions." Here the Gentle Doctor gives examples of saints who, while admitting that their actions are admirable, are NOT imitable! This can be a shock for many... if the saints did it, shouldn't we do it also? In many cases, yes. But there are some extreme cases where we ought not to imitate the saints. Saint Francis gives examples and general principles on this discernment.This is a wonderful, practice, and easy book for anyone wanting to grow in holiness. It is written by not only a saint, but a doctor of the Church. Furthermore, Saint de Sales has a simplicity and gentleness that makes him attractive to ALL Christianss, whether they be beginners, advanced, simple in their spirituality, or anything else. I highly recommend the book.

Like pretty much all of St. Francis de Sales' books, Finding God's Will For You is worth the read. His love for and trust in God are infectious, and as usual, he tackles God's will with simple but powerful advice, and lots of stories to match. You can't read this book without finding lots of little take-aways that you can apply immediately to your life.Since there's no TOC posted (though I intend to post an image of it) here's the breakdown:1. Recognize the goodness of God's will2. Keep a steady course in the pursuit of holiness3. Follow God's will in making decisions4. Learn to embrace your crosses5. Do not be discouraged by your failings6. Purify your love of God7. Abandon yourself completely to God's willSt. Francis' words are so encouraging because he addresses both the person I am now and the person I want to be. He meets me where I am and tries to bring me to higher and deeper levels in my obedience to God. And before I forget, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a blogger who received this book for free to review.Bottom line: while I don't think the book is as good as Treatise on the Love of God or Intro to the Devout Life (they're hard to top!) it's still definitely worth reading and highly recommended.

Although the author doesn't out and out tell you what God's will is for you, he does a good job here in telling you what it's not as well as how to discover it yourself through contemplation and meditation on scripture.At 147 pages, this is not really a light read so make sure you read this in a quiet place and at a slow pace; otherwise, you may feel a little lost and the ideas at the beginning are linked and take time to develop and once you lose the train of thought, it gets difficult to find it again. But if you take the effort to do so and to re-read it if necessary, you will find this book to be a great encouragement and an affirmation that God does have your well-being at heart and will help you discern His will, which ultimately leads to what brings the greatest joy and satisfaction, if you but learn to listen to His promptings.St. Francis de Sales gives some very convincing and helpful suggestions here on how to do just that.

I wasn't sure what I was going to get out of this book. The title caught my eye because I was struggling in discerning something in my life. I started the book and stopped because I wasn't connecting with the content. A short time later, I had a long flight and decided to give this book another shot. For some reason, it clicked this time. I finished the book in 2-3 hours and came away with some insights that really helped. St. Francis de Sales seems to incorporate some things he learned from other saints along with his own insights. Knowing what God's will for me is a challenge. This book provided helpful and practical insights. I don't know if everything he wrote will help everyone but the book is worth reading at least once. I have a feeling that I will refer back to this book in the future and have plans to read his most famous work "Introduction to the Devout Life."

Arrived on time in good condition, as described. I'm very happy with the purchase.A really good book.

ahh..very nice..This is one of the rarest catholic book that clearly and very clearl explains free will offered to us by GOD..oh mindblowing..ST.Francis Sales explains these things using great examples

Read carefully to understand the language style

Excellent book.