God's Plan

 

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”- Prov 16: 3

It’s amazing to think of the various plans that I’ve made for my life that have wound up resulting in much different outcomes than I’ve expected.  After my trip to Africa as a teenager, I was convinced that God’s plan for my life was for me to be a counselor for children. I thought that meant I was either going to be an LPC or a school counselor. I would end up earning a master’s degree in 2009 in school counseling and worked as an elementary school counselor for two years.  I believed I was serving my “purpose” and walking in line with God’s will for my life. 

During that time, however, my husband and I became more and more dissatisfied with our living situation. Living as an interracial family in Central Oregon, where there were not many Black people at all, was not the most comfortable set up.  In fact, when I was in high school, we had maybe two Black students out of the entire student population.  It was frustrating having to deal with the stares and the subtlety racist comments on an almost daily basis.  My husband grew up in Alabama, and the first – and only- time he has ever been called the “n-word” was in my hometown.

We decided we wanted more for our family.  We wanted to raise our children in a culturally diverse environment, where there were more like-minded people. We wanted them to have more educational opportunities and to be able to see more of the world.  Most importantly, we wanted to move closer to my in-laws, who were very loving and supportive parents and grandparents.  Not to mention, we also wanted to move to an area where the cost of living was much more reasonable. We therefore decided to move to the South. 

In 2010, we ended up moving to North Carolina, which is where I received an offer. It was a great job- working for the federal government, but I simply just saw it as a “job” at that time, as I “knew” I would eventually return to school counseling.  I needed to move to the new State first, get my family settled, then learn about the credentialing requirements and work towards those.  However, after only a brief time of working in NC, I knew that I would not be able to return quickly to my prior profession, as the government work paid much better and was therefore best for my family.  My husband was still working on building up his career and working towards what he wanted to do, so it was the responsible thing for me to stay where I was.  I started feeling angry about the decision, and feeling as if I was not doing what God wanted me to do with my life.  Even though I made the choice to not return to counseling, I was resentful and blamed Mose.  After eight years of doing this work, which I felt was not my purpose, I decided that I wanted to look into going into leadership.  I applied for a competitive leadership development program at work.  I knew that if I did not make it into that program, I would return to school counseling, regardless of whether I would have to take a pay cut.  Long story short, I would be accepted into that program, which spearheaded my leadership journey.  I was promoted to a supervisor position within two years, and I was promoted again to be the office Director another three years later. 

I have never felt more fulfilled or happy than I do now in my current position.  I am able to be a positive leader each day. I look for opportunities to encourage our employees regularly, and make beneficial decisions for our office.  I use my counseling skills often.  I truly believe I am serving my purpose and in a place where I can use my skills to the utmost capacity.

You may be in a season where you do not feel as though you are serving your purpose.  It may be that you are on a stepping stone towards the ultimate plan for your life, so you are actually following the plan. It takes time to get where you want to be, so patience is key. One thing we need to always remember is that our purpose is actually to love and serve others (John 13:34).  Whenever we are doing these, we are serving our purpose.  We spend so much time worrying about what our “purpose” is and whether we are walking in it, but we fail to see that when we are fulfilling God’s primary tasks for us, that we are doing just that.  It looks different for each of us because we each have different skillsets and experiences that lead us in different directions, but there is no right or wrong way.  Let go of that guilt and worry, friends!  Stay the course and focus on building up your own personal skills.  You are heading down the right path towards what God has in store for you.