4 Sure Signs God Is Pushing You Into Something Better

Inside: These 4 signs God is pushing you into something better will explain why your life feels off-kilter. Here’s how to know when God wants you to leave, plus what happens when you resist Him.

I sat back in my chair with a heavy sigh, stretching my arms, then rolling my head and shoulders. This was my new habit, trying to relieve what felt like permanent kinks and knots in my neck.

I told myself it was because of all the time I spent at my desk, pounding out work like I always did. But it was a lie. Those kinks and knots were because of the constant tension haunting my every waking moment lately.

On top of the tension pressing down on me, an unhappy restlessness had also joined the downer of a party that was my life. Nothing I did to get rid of it worked, and I didn’t like it one bit.

As I rolled my head again, my eyes landed on the framed pictures sitting on a corner of my desk. I’d recently put them there so I’d have a constant visual reminder of why I had to hang onto this job at all costs.

By then, every day—heck, every minute—at work was a struggle. And I needed all the help I could get to stay focused.

So I sighed out my misery once again, leaned my head back against the chair, and contemplated my dilemma.

I hated my job and was desperate to chuck it in. Yes, I felt God pushing me to leave but couldn’t see a way out. I was well and truly trapped.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable download—The Hearing God Cheat Sheet. It gives you 6 guaranteed signs He’s speaking to you so you can stop missing it.

How to Know If God Wants You to Change Jobs

OK, first things first. If you’re in this boat—which I’m sure you are because you’re here—know you’re not alone. Yes, even if your friends and family pooh-pooh your restlessness and unhappiness.

You aren’t alone. Even if they dismiss your discontent, telling you to go find a new hobby to distract yourself and hang on to your job.

My darling, you aren’t alone. First, because as a confessed, baptized follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is always with you. Second, because others have been where you’re at. I’m one of them!

Not only aren’t you alone, but God is speaking to you through your discontent. Your unhappiness is saying you’ve completed this season, and now He has something different for you.

If you’re like I was—sitting at work with tension squeezing the life out of your neck—deep down you already know it’s time to leave your job. But consciously, you may be letting doubt and fear keep you trapped.

So let’s talk about 4 signs God is pushing you into something better. Use them as the kick in the pants you need to get with His program of transitioning you.

Related: 3 Simple Strategies to Find the Best Answers for What Makes You Happy

4 Signs God Is Pushing You into Something Better

You can find a gazillion signs God is pushing you into something better. But you need to know how to interpret these signs.

Otherwise, you’ll stay stuck in doubt and fear. You’ll keep clinging to a job that belongs in a dead season. And you won’t let God move and use you for something brand new, exciting, and potentially life-changing—for you and others.

You need clarity and encouragement to obey God so you’ll live your best possible life. So I’m not going to drown you with a gazillion signs.

Instead, we’ll look at 4 big, definite signs God is pushing you into something better. Then we’ll talk about how and why you may be resisting Him, and the misery you reap when you do.

Let’s go.

1. You’ve lost your passion and joy for the job.

You’re the woman who’s always thrown herself, heart and soul, into her work. First one in, last one out, taking work home, at it nonstop with barely a break on the weekends. As long as work isn’t finished, you’re on it.

And you don’t do it only for the rewards—the praise and excellent performance reviews. Those are great and you love them. But mostly you’ve done it because you’ve straight up loved your work and the sense of accomplishment it usually gives you.

Now, not so much.

You’ve lost your passion and joy for it all. And every task is like slogging through a boggy swamp with anchors chained to your legs.

2. You feel like the weakest link on your team.

You’re the original team player. The one who everyone can rely on to make the right plays at the right time, doing everything in your power to bring the team to success. Whatever new task or project gets thrown at you, you get it done by any means necessary.

Your past performance reviews reflect this. Anyone can see you’ve been a dependable, valuable team member. And it usually comes naturally to you, without having to force it.

Now, not so much.

You feel disconnected from your work and your team. Where they still seem to be thriving on the challenge and energy of their work, you’re barely pulling your weight. Probably because you’re so miserable at work that you procrastinate on your responsibilities, then feel like you’re drowning trying to bring projects and tasks in on time.

You can see disaster coming like a train wreck. Yet you can’t seem to muster the interest to show up as the valuable, reliable team member you’ve been up to now.

All you can do is keep your head down, try to get your work done, and fly under the radar until this—hopefully!—blows over.

Related: I Hate My Job But It Pays Well: How To Make A New Decision

3. Your motivation has gone missing.

You’re the woman who usually wakes up with her to-do list for the day front and center. As each item rolls through your mind, you mentally organize your tasks for efficiency.

Within precious few minutes of coming fully awake, you’re out of bed and charging into your day. Motivated by the satisfaction you know you’ll feel from a job well done, plus the accolades they’ll heap on your head. Not to mention the money.

Now, not so much.

Every morning when your mind flickers to consciousness, the first thing you do is mentally check if it’s a workday. If it is, your heart sinks. Then you lay there for as long as possible not thinking about work, eventually dragging yourself from bed at the last possible minute.

As soon as the day ends, you shut down all thoughts of work and escape into movies, books, or social media, trying to distract yourself with momentary happiness and peace. So by the time you rest your head on your pillow at night, profound weariness weighs you down because you know you’ll have to pick up the pretense again tomorrow.

All on sheer willpower. Because who’s going to give you accolades and what satisfaction can you get when you’re barely performing at work? And no amount of money can make you feel good about that.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable download—The Hearing God Cheat Sheet. It gives you 6 guaranteed signs He’s speaking to you so you can stop missing it.

4. You know you’re the problem.

Of course, you’ve thought about changing jobs. Maybe a change of environment will settle you down and get you back on track. Heck, it’s what you’ve done in the past when you started feeling restless at work. 

Now, not so much.

The loss of passion, the discomfort on your team, the lack of motivation. You recognize them all as possible signs God is telling you to leave your job.

But you also know the truth: this time around, changing companies won’t solve your problem. Deep down, you know you’re hauling the problem around with you like Jacob Marley and his eternal chains in A Christmas Carol.

Even if you moved to a different company in a similar role, you know you’ll still feel the same unhappiness. Because what you need now is a radical change.

You know the problem isn’t with the company, your team, or the job.

The problem is in you.

3 Signs You’re Resisting God Pushing You Into Something Better

So you’re drowning in all kinds of unhappiness at work. And you know these are 4 signs God is pushing you into something better.

If you’re honest, you know down in your gut God wants you to step out into something different.

But for a while now, you’ve either been spinning in confusion and doubt, or you’ve been trying to silence the voice telling you God wants you to leave.

Let’s talk about why you’ve taken one of these paths, and the implications of your decision.

1. You’re letting fear of the unknown stop you.

Fear is the biggest reason you’re ignoring these 4 signs God is pushing you into something better.

Either you don’t know what He wants you to do. And what sane person leaves a good, well-paying position with a great company for some unknown thing?

Or you suspect what He wants you to do but you’re riddled with uncertainty because the how of doing it isn’t clear. Which is super uncomfortable.

Plus, how can you be sure the thing God is pushing you into is actually better than what you have now?

 And anyway, can it really be the right thing if just thinking about it feels uncomfortable? If it was the right thing, you’d only feel excited. Right?

Bottom line: you’re always a woman with a plan. You need to know where you’re going and how you’re supposed to get there. So this whole, “Go then I’ll tell you what we’re doing,” thing from God isn’t your speed at all.

Know who else God told to go, with no clear plan or path? Abram.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV)

All God gave Abram was a huge promise. No specific goal, no clear heading, no step-by-step plan.

This is the—sometimes annoying—thing about God. He didn’t even tell Abram exactly where to go. He simply promised to show him once he was on his way.

Abram’s Response to God Pushing Him into Something Better

Did Abram hesitate over the lack of a plan? Did he demand certainty before stepping one foot beyond the world he knew?

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:4-7 (ESV)

See? God only revealed His big plan to Abram once he’d stepped out and kept moving forward in faith.

Notice how Abram didn’t do countless career quizzes, visit a career counselor, or try to get certainty from some other source. He simply took God at His word and did as he was told.

Meanwhile, you’re afraid of an unknown future. It’s human and understandable. But it means you don’t trust God to have a plan or to have your back while He unfolds His plan.

Related: Hello, Victory & Courage: 3 Powerful Prayers For Fear

2. You’re clinging to the money.

Ah, money. Isn’t it lovely? Because of the money you’ve earned at this and prior jobs, you have the life you dreamed of for so long. The one that you were supposed to find overflowing with joy.

The money is what got you what you now have, and it’s what maintains your lifestyle.

Not that you love money. You’re a good steward of what God has given you, tithing, budgeting, and being generous with what you have.

But you also have a healthy respect for the power of money. Because, practically speaking, you have a roof to keep over your head, utilities to keep turned on, and mouths to feed.

So God wants you to step out into something different. But how will the new thing keep a roof over your head, utilities on, and mouths fed? How will you maintain your current comfortable lifestyle?

You don’t know, which is part of why you’re ignoring those 4 signs God is pushing you to something better.

The Bible has a word for you on this issue.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

1 Timothy 6:17 (ESV)

The money you so deeply respect and are clinging to with every fiber of your being? God provided it for you. And you clinging to it instead of Him means you don’t trust Him to water your well as you step into the new thing He has for you.

3. You’re clinging to your position.

Then there’s the prestige of your position. No one can deny you’ve worked hard to get here, to receive the recognition you’ve earned.

You wouldn’t have a problem if you left your current position for a similar one in another company. But what would people think if you left it for some unknown thing?

Surely, they’d think you’d lost your mind because who gives up certainty for uncertainty? Especially after working your fingers to the bone to achieve everything you have.

Here’s what the Bible says on this one.

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)

The image you’re concerned with maintaining and the judgment you’re concerned with avoiding? You’re letting those things rob you of the freedom and joy from stepping into the new, better thing God is pushing you towards.

The Consequences of Ignoring Signs God Is Pushing You into Something Better

What if Abram had refused to leave his country to go to some unspecified place God was sending Him to, with nothing but a promise?

What if Abram had clung to his comfort zone until God coughed up a map with an X marking the spot he should head for?

And suppose Abram had stayed trapped in his dead season, insisting on a step-by-step plan before he’d even consider packing up his tent to make a move.

Do you think his story would have ended the same?

I can’t answer that for sure but here’s what I do know: If you put your fear and need for certainty above trusting God, He’ll move on to someone else who’s willing to be used to unfold His plan.

Because one way or another, God’s plan must happen but He’ll never force you to choose His way.

It’s for you to decide if you want a part in bringing His plan about, maybe even a starring role. Or if you’d rather sit in the audience and watch, riddled with regret because you know you could have been the one God pushed into something better.

The choice is yours.

A Resource for Gaining Confidence When God Wants You to Leave Your Job

By now you know the truth: you’ll easily dismiss the 4 signs God is pushing you into something better if you let fear, doubt, and uncertainty stand in your way.

Straight up, you’ll never step into the better God is pushing you towards if you don’t catch onto His vision for you and learn to be confident in it, no matter the circumstances. You can’t stay trapped in a dead season while expecting God to magically transport you into a better one.

Instead, you need to go deep into your mind and heart and work with God to uncover your new desires so you can partner with Him and change your life.

The 21-Day Finding Your Dream Work Journal is your guide for uncovering your big new God-given vision for the work life you desire, so you can get to work creating it. Each day, it walks you through exercises that help you gain insights and knowledge to make God’s pushing you into something better a little easier.

Get the Finding Your Dream Work Journal and use it to start going after what God has for you.

What Happens When You Let God Push You into Something Better

Back at my desk, the day stretched unending ahead of me. It felt like the longest day since the beginning of creation, as I tried to bury my unhappiness and refocus on my work.

My eyes flickered again to the pictures on the corner of the desk as I silently prayed for God to send me a clear sign—a burning bush—so I could silence my restlessness and misery, and step into something better.

I’d let my fear and doubt blind me to the obvious signs He’d been showing me all along. And I stayed blind and trapped in fear and doubt until the company booted me out.

But you don’t have to stay blind and trapped.

Before you go, get your FREE printable download to help conquer your confusion—The Essential Guide to Finding Clarity.

Picture this: It’s 5 years from now and you’re still dragging yourself from bed every morning. Maybe at a different company, but still slogging through the same swamp with even heavier anchors chained to your legs.

Now picture this instead: It’s 5 years from now and you’re joyfully bouncing out of bed and into your day because you got dialed into your God-given purpose and let God move you into something better.

Which will you choose today?

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