I don't know where to start with this, but Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible sounds good. 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you." (consecrated- appointed, ordained, etc.) So we know our Creator knew us before we came here. (We don't remember knowing Him then, and I could blab for 5 paragraphs about why, but in short, our pineal gland [called "the seat of the soul" by some ancient cultures & "the all-seeing eye" as early as ancient Egypt and even modern day freemasonry] produces a chemical called dimethyltryptamine when we are born, when we sleep, and when we die. One of the most obvious characteristics of this chemical is that is erases our memory of what has happened during the time it was active. This is why our dreams seem real at the time, and we remember a little bit upon the moments of first waking up, but a few hours later... forget it. [There are exceptions, sometimes we remember a significant amount of our dreams. Some people just remember them. Some people might have improper pineal function; fluoride is one of the things that deteriorate our pineal gland, so make sure you don't ever ingest it.] But for the most part, we forget our dreams, and the reason is dimethyltryptamine. The amount secreted at birth and death is significantly different than during REM [rapid eye movement] sleep. Much less during sleep and much more during birth and death. This explains how God knew us before, but we don't remember it. In fact, we don't remember anything that happened before we came here, and the reason is dimethyltryptamine.) The physical is temporary and the spiritual is eternal. My soul is spiritual; it didn't start on April 18, 1987. My soul came here then, but it came from a place where God knew me! During that time before I came here, God says he appointed a purpose to me. So we came into this reality with a purpose already. God's got plans for us. Plans to give us "a hope and a future". And what are plans? Aren't plans like... blueprints? And aren't blueprints kind of an outline of a big picture? This may sound silly, but when I picture my journey ahead of me, I picture a straight path of coloring pages. Each one has a picture of a major part of my reality. The blueprints, God's plans, are already laid out. The major facts are already set to happen; and I just don't believe those major facts change. I do believe that we have choice inside the blueprints. Those choices are like the colors we chose, but they really are only that much. The colors are like the "how" of everything. It's going to happen, it's just that our choices determine the "how" of the happening, because we do have free will. And that's where I believe free will comes in; we do get to choose the how... and most of the time, I choose to make the "how" a lot harder than it has to be!!
So what about our dreams? The things we want to do in life? Does that mean we can't choose our own future? It can't really be said that easily. We all have hopes, dreams, & goals. Where do those ideas come from? Don't they come from within us? Don't we pray for God's will to be done, and for Him to show us His will? Well, He does! Remember how God knew us before we came here? I'm sure we talked. I mean, that's what you do when you know someone right? It probably went something like this: "Okay Vanessa! Here's why I need you to go and here's what I'm gonna have you do. You wont remember this conversation, but it's ingrained into who you are, so remember to focus on your dreams because they will tell you what your purpose is." I guess you could say we "choose" what we want for our future, but we're only doing so because we were programmed with a certain purpose before we even got here, so we "choose" it. If I say that I can choose my own future, I'm kind of implying that I exist independently, that it's all up to me. I have thought this, and I guess I didn't really reason with it enough. In all honesty, I believe there is very little real choice when it comes to the big picture. Like the coloring book, the big purpose is laid out, and we can fill in the little ideas. We make little choices every day! It's limited choice though; the big picture stays. If you feel a little suffocated by the idea of having no choice when it comes to the big picture of your future, think of it like this. Why do we have desires? You were programmed to desire your destiny. God will give us the desires of our heart if we stay in his will.... what a coincidence!!! Our destiny is His will, and we are programmed to desire our destiny, so we make choices based on that innate desire.
I believe that we each do have a destiny, and the best way to start finding out what that is, is to look at what your natural talents are and what you naturally love to do. Everything about your design is perfect; God makes no mistakes. He designed you with desires & talents to complement your purpose, your destiny. I know from inside what I believe mine is, and this is enough reason to not doubt my decisions, because even if I did something wrong, the big picture stays. It's just the "how" that is different! Although... destiny would probably happen faster if I (or my fear) didn't get in my damn way so much!
