My friend is going through a hard time of not knowing whether to listen to God’s will or listen to her parents. She believes God is telling her what He has planned for her life. But if she listens to Him, she will need to take major loans for college and her parents don’t want her to go into debt. Her mom is still paying off college loans and has a family to take care of as well. She 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.
It wouldn’t be like the Lord to cause your friend to be disobedient to her parents. I also agree with them where the big student loan is concerned. The Lord doesn’t usually saddle his followers with loads of debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
That means He thinks of debt as a form of slavery. The Lord gave His life to free us from the bondage of slavery, not to further enslave us.
But that doesn’t mean she should ignore what she feels is His 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. You can also help her remember that He’s bigger than all of her problems, so this is not an “either / or” situation for Him. If she’s heard Him right, He’ll begin showing her a way forward that doesn’t cause her to disobey her parents or make her a slave to her debts.