Editor,
As someone who spent her first year at medical school worrying whether that was actually what God had wanted her to do, I found Sam Leinster's article on 'Planning your Career' a great comfort and full of practical advice.

My mind had been filled with doubts: What if I don't get a job at the end of this? Why does everyone else seem to know what they want to do? What if I make the wrong decision about my career? What if I already have made the wrong decision!?

The article reminded me that God has promised to guide me (Ps 37:23) and also that God mostly shows us our path a little at a time, (Ps 119:105) not always in some massive lightning bolt revelation. It also reminded me of the importance of prayer. I've prayed hundreds of times “Your will be done” but never actually realised that this means I should be praying for God to make His plans happen, not that He will make mine happen.

It has encouraged me to take time to consider my career, not just to fret that I don't know it yet, and also that if things don't turn out the way I think they should, God may just be poking me in a different direction than the one I originally wanted – but true success is fulfilling Gods purpose, whatever that turns out to be.
Liz McClenaghan
Brighton and Sussex Medical School

'Evidence Based Faith', made me question the roles of evidence and reason in faith. The Bible says, 'Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' (Heb 11:1)Faith is invisible, so surely its essence is lost the moment evidence is used to justify it?

I am not saying that faith and reason are mutually exclusive. Indeed, both have been given by God, and acts of reason have elements of faith as they are always based on assumptions . But if faith was rational, Abraham would not have tried to sacrifice his son Isaac. (Gn 22) If faith could be explained, Nicodemus would have easilyunderstood what it meant to be 'born again' (Jn 3:7). God wants us to trust in him and not lean on our own understanding (Pr 3:5). Without a simple childlike faith, trust with no preconditions, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).
Norris Igbineweka
King's College London

Editor's response,
Throughout the Bible, faith is rooted in evidence and reason: He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It isthrough Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. (Heb 11:17b-19) Abraham trusted God on the evidence of what God had already done; Isaac was an unbelievable gift given how old Abraham and Sarah were. In taking this step of faith,'Abraham reasoned' from what he already knew of God, andthis was the basis of his act of faith.
Hugh Ip
Nucleus editor