Follow God Or My Parents?

Q. My friend is going through a hard time of not knowing whether to listen to God’s will or listen to her parents.  God is telling her what He has planned for her and how she should live to carry out His will; however, her parents don’t agree with God on this subject (basically, if my friend listens to God, she will need to take major loans for college and her parents don’t want her to take loans out… her mom is still paying off college loans and has a family to take care of and doesn’t want her daughter to go through the same thing).  I’m really concerned for my friend and care about her a lot. She and I both pray about it constantly.  Is there any scripture or any advice that could help her situation?  She really wants to follow God’s will but finds hurt in disobeying her parents.

A. I’m with your friend’s parents where the big student loan is concerned.  The Lord doesn’t usually saddle his followers with loads of debt.  But that doesn’t mean she should ignore what she feels is God’s will for her life. In the mission field we have a saying, “When the Lord guides, the Lord provides.” Or as my daughter says, “If it’s God’s will, it’s His bill.”  Your friend has accomplished an important goal in learning what the Lord wants of her. Now she needs to start asking Him how to accomplish it. As her friend you can help her pray for answers to that question. If she’s heard Him right, He’ll begin showing her a way that doesn’t cause her to disobey her parents.