I have often been told that I think too much. I dont really need to be told, though, as Im well aware of the fact! But perhaps think too much is the wrong phrase. To think too much almost sounds like a compliment. I think the truth is I question too much.

Now, asking questions can be a good thing. As they keep saying on Sesame Street, Asking questions is a good way of finding out things. There are many Christians who would not be Christians today if they had not asked some questions. Is there a God? Could Jesus really have risen from the dead? What do I need to do to have a close relationship with Jesus? These are excellent questions that lead us towards the truth, and the questions dont need to stop once we have been saved. If you have a question thats on your mind, ask God, think about it, wonder and ponder. It might just be His way of leading you towards new insight.

But not all questions are asked in such a way to bring us closer to God. Im afraid that most of my questions, or the way I asked most of my questions, werent really helping me grow as a Christian. Or perhaps they were, because somewhere along the way I learnt better ways of asking questions. Here are a few of the things I have learnt.

1. Focus on the important questions. We all ask questions that arent important sometimes, but I used to spend days asking God, my husband and myself questions that werent really important at all. Things like Should I cut my hair? Honestly, I have done this! I have since learned to direction my energy towards questions that are important.

2. Know when I cant figure out the answer myself. Some questions, like What should we have for dinner tonight? should be answered by me. But some questions like Which Church should I attend? really need to be answered by God. Theres no point in spending a lot of time trying to figure out the answers to questions, when the answer really needs to come from God.

3. Ask the right people. First of all, ask God! Then, if you need to ask someone else, talk to people who are qualified to give you answers. In High School, I had a friend who once rang me up asking what a certain boys comments meant. Of course, I had no idea, but I gave her my opinion anyway. When I got to school the next day, I found out that she had rung every single one of my friends in turn, asking them the same question, and we all had a different opinion. She never found any answers that night because she was asking the wrong people.

4. Dont let a question take control of your life. It does happen. We want to know something so bad, that we are always asking the question, and trying to figure out the answer. Nothing is to be gained by focusing all our attention on one question or a series of questions. In fact, it might make us miss out on the answer.

5. Wait for the answer. Answers dont always come straight away, particularly if youre asking God the question. Be prepared to wait. He does and will answer you, even if its not straight away. I can think of many instances in my life when I ask God a question over and over again, only to find the answer was already on the way.

6. Try not to get frustrated or angry. When we really want to know the answer to something, and the answer seems far away, it can be tempting to get frustrated or angry. We might feel like yelling out to God, Why wont you answer me? And Ive been there and I have yelled that very question at God! But then I realized that getting angry at God wasnt going to make me feel any better, and I also began to find out that while I was yelling, sometimes Gods answer was already on the way.

7. Accept the fact that sometimes there wont be an answer. We all have a couple of big questions, and perhaps a common one is What will it be like in Heaven?. Id love to know! But Im not going to find out until I die, and neither is anyone else. Rather than continue to ask a question which cant be answered yet, I need to accept that this is just one thing I wont know until Ive passed on to the next life.

But I guess the main thing I have learnt is that asking questions isnt necessarily a bad thing. I think Sesame Street is right. I have found out a lot of things by asking questions. I might like to change their little saying a bit, though. How about Asking questions is a good way of hearing Gods answers.