This is a guest post from Joshua Williams - an active member and committed volunteer at St. Timothy & St. Athanasius church in Arlington, VA. You can follow Josh on twitter, @PrestigiousJosh.  And if you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.

"What’s God’s will for my life?"  That’s gotta be the #1 question people want answered.  But in order for us to decipher God’s INDIVIDUAL will for our lives, we must first discover God’s GENERAL will for us – His overarching desire God for all His children.

The Bible mentions many components of this general will of God (love your enemies, honor your parents, in everything give thanks, etc.) but I would like to share about just one for today – based on two verses from Scripture:

[God] “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  (1 Timothy 2:4)

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  (John 17:3)

God’s will/desire is for man to come to the knowledge of the Truth – that is to have deep knowledge and intimacy with Him.  This intimacy is achieved only through the Love of God.  Our Heavenly Father bestows this Love through the Grace of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ and by the mystical work of the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giver.

Once upon a time, there was a poor orphan girl who was without her father from a young age.  Several members of church reached out to help her and one church minister in particular sought to do anything for this girl.  His heart ached for her sake, knowing she had no one to call her father.

So he did his best to be a father for her.  He bought her gifts and did his best to shower her with a fatherly love.  Just one problem though – the girl didn’t particularly care for the church minister.  She rejected his gifts and his love and didn’t care to have him be part of her life.

One day however, the minister – because of his deep desire to win her heart and be her father – decided to give her something very dear to his heart.  It was a golden cross given to him by his late grandmother – an item he treasured more than just about anything in the world.

Upon seeing the gift, the young girl realized how precious the gift was and was dumbfounded by the minister’s level of sacrifice for her.  Right then, she realized his great love for her and began to accept that love for herself.  From that moment on, she allowed him to be her father.

Sound familiar?

It’s the love story of God and His children.  If we’re honest, we often have the same attitude as this young girl.  Our Heavenly Father wants nothing more than for us to spend time with Him, be in communion with Him, and ultimately experience His Love!  And that is why He was willing to pour out His One and Only Son for us – to win our hearts and be Our Father.

Yet sometimes, we pass by the Love of God and disregard it.  Hebrews 2:3 says “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

The only way we will begin to have clarity in our lives is if we acknowledge the thing that should be most clear, God’s UNIQUE LOVE FOR US.  Yes, I said unique.  It is a unique and personal love for each child individually.  And while the old Sunday school saying is true - “God loves everyone” – we must realize that God’s love is not generic.  It is unique and specific to each child (as a parent with multiple children knows too).

“Fear not, for I have redeemed YOU [ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you captives]; I have called YOU by YOUR name; YOU are Mine (Isaiah 43:1).

For discussion:  what comes to your mind when you think of the Love of God?