I was recently digging through my jewelry drawer and stumbled upon two pieces of jewelry that I hadn't thought about in couple of months. I was looking for my usual spring weather jewelry when I found my two Trust Your Journey bracelets, that my big sister and I call our "sister bracelets." A smile immediately formed on my face because these two bracelets has experienced a lot of joy over the couple of years that I have owned them. From camp where my campers taught me that life is about investing and serving others, to school where I realized that I have a passion for learning and growing intellectually. These simple bracelets are always a source of reflection when I would look at them. Life is about trusting our journey and believing that our dreams are capable of coming to reality. We may not understand all that life throws at us but the good and bad experiences of our lives teach us that life is about embracing change and moving through life's ups and downs with a spirit of grace, joy and optimism. Life is about moving forward not backward.
When we embrace this notion of trusting the journey, we realize that nothing in life is coincidental. For example, I have been thinking a lot lately about the future and the desire that I have to become a speech language pathologist. I can't help but think, as I await the email determining if I start graduate school this fall or not, that the events and experiences in my life thus far have been apart of the journey that has allowed me to want to pursue this career. When I trust that God has placed this call on my life to help others find their unique voice, I am reminded that all of the educators, mentors, friends and family who have encouraged me on this path were not doing so by chance; but by purpose. They were the support system that I needed to have in order to understand the potential that I have to do this job. Though the road is stressful and winding at times, I have to keep moving on and trusting that God has seen me this far and he will not turn his back on me now. We can all find comfort in this realization! We are not alone and our lives are not a coincidence or accident, our lives are 100% a realization of the plans that God has for us. Isn't that such a beautiful thought!
My challenge to you today, is to trust your journey and to not loose hope in whatever portion of the journey that you are currently on. Change is a part of life but the only way to truly live in the moment is to look forward and not backward. We are all like an arrow and we all are capable of finding purpose and meaning in our lives when we take time to understand why we are being directed toward a certain part of life. I may not know all that God has planned for me yet but I believe that he is with me and moving in the midst of what is unfolding. I will give him all the glory for whatever happens, because I know that he is an amazing God who cares for me and loves me deeply. We may not understand everything from this side of the kingdom but in the end it will all make perfect sense. Because of this, we just have to learn to trust our journey and the one who is fulfilling it!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Beauty in the Breakdown
I have been discovering lately that when we let go of how we think life HAS to look; we are set free to experience the joys and blessings that God places in our lives every moment of every day. It is in the reflection of the simple moments of life, such as seeing the rebirth only found in spring after a harsh winter or the sun peeking out from behind rain clouds and having that change in the horizon lift your mood that day. The truth is that there is always something that we can choose to be thankful for! In fact, it is our ability to find the beauty in the terrible and the mundane in life that we are able to realize most that life is beautiful and precious. It is honestly easy to find joy and strength when life is perfect and when our experiences are unfolding as we think they should, but it is more difficult to find those things when our lives are unraveling. If we were to be honest, these are the moments where we struggle the most; but if we were also to be honest, these are the moments where our lives are broken to become something more than we could have ever imagined. There really is beauty in the breakdown!
Life is more than the expectations we hold for how our lives have to always look and feel. Lately, I have found that my perspective about life is evolving. I think honestly, this change was sparked by six months of unemployment post graduation where I was forced to realize that the expectations I had about my first "real" job would be very different than what I had first imagined as a student. I applied for job after job and even though I had lots of interviews, I found that none of the jobs that I was looking into would help me achieve the dream that I feel God has me, which is to become a speech language pathologist. I was blessed to find a job that I feel God had a hand in leading me to and I am happier than I could have every imagined. My school work is thriving, I am gaining experience and knowledge of my field of study and I work with amazing clients, staff and families. Honestly, I was silly to think that I could be a director of a non-profit and my school work would not suffer. I was silly to think that I had to make a certain salary, wear a cute business wardrobe to work and be the boss of others to be successful and happy in my job. God had to break me of my selfishness before I could inherit the gifts of joy and blessings that he has for me at this juncture of my life. It had to become more about God and the plans that he had for me and less about myself and the plans that I had for a perfect life. I had to accept that God must be first!
This year, my mantra for 2014 is simply "All in." For me this idea takes multiple forms. I want to first of all be all in for God and trust that he is always with me and leading me throughout my experiences. Secondly, I want to be all in in making the kingdom of God grow and helping others to realize the peace and love that God can give them if they just choose to believe and surrender to his movement in their lives. Additionally, I am striving this year to be all in for my job and to me that means working hard every moment of my work day to improve the lives of the clients and families that I serve. I also want to be all in with my classwork which means that I need to continue learning and working to become the best future professional in my field that I can be. This mantra calls for big changes but these changes are worth it. I had to realize that life is not always going to be perfect and that it is not always going to go as I would wish, but as a follower of Christ my life is not my own... it's my creator's. I am just thankful and blessed to be apart of it!
Life is more than the expectations we hold for how our lives have to always look and feel. Lately, I have found that my perspective about life is evolving. I think honestly, this change was sparked by six months of unemployment post graduation where I was forced to realize that the expectations I had about my first "real" job would be very different than what I had first imagined as a student. I applied for job after job and even though I had lots of interviews, I found that none of the jobs that I was looking into would help me achieve the dream that I feel God has me, which is to become a speech language pathologist. I was blessed to find a job that I feel God had a hand in leading me to and I am happier than I could have every imagined. My school work is thriving, I am gaining experience and knowledge of my field of study and I work with amazing clients, staff and families. Honestly, I was silly to think that I could be a director of a non-profit and my school work would not suffer. I was silly to think that I had to make a certain salary, wear a cute business wardrobe to work and be the boss of others to be successful and happy in my job. God had to break me of my selfishness before I could inherit the gifts of joy and blessings that he has for me at this juncture of my life. It had to become more about God and the plans that he had for me and less about myself and the plans that I had for a perfect life. I had to accept that God must be first!
This year, my mantra for 2014 is simply "All in." For me this idea takes multiple forms. I want to first of all be all in for God and trust that he is always with me and leading me throughout my experiences. Secondly, I want to be all in in making the kingdom of God grow and helping others to realize the peace and love that God can give them if they just choose to believe and surrender to his movement in their lives. Additionally, I am striving this year to be all in for my job and to me that means working hard every moment of my work day to improve the lives of the clients and families that I serve. I also want to be all in with my classwork which means that I need to continue learning and working to become the best future professional in my field that I can be. This mantra calls for big changes but these changes are worth it. I had to realize that life is not always going to be perfect and that it is not always going to go as I would wish, but as a follower of Christ my life is not my own... it's my creator's. I am just thankful and blessed to be apart of it!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Cha-Cha-Cha Changes!
A lot has changed since I last posted on here. In December, 2012 I graduated from Lindsey Wilson College. I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Communication and Psychology. Post graduation, I waited for God to place me in the job that he would desire for me to have. It was a very trying time for me because with lots and lots of job interviews came lots and lots of frustration and no job prospects. My luck changed in the summer of 2013 when God blessed me with an amazing job. I work at a pediatric clinic that services children and teens with a variety of special needs. I am happy beyond words to go to work every day. I love the children that I work with and I feel that God is allowing me to make an impact in the lives of the families that I work with. It is amazing how perfectly God changes the circumstances of our lives so that he receives the Glory for what unfolds.
I feel that my life is still evolving. Right now, I am waiting to hear back from graduate school to see if I have been accepted to begin my journey as a Speech Language Pathologist. I love this field of work and I know that God has filled my heart with this passion for a reason. I should know within the month if I was accepted or not so prayers would definitely be appreciated! I'm excited to see what other blessings God has waiting for me.
I hope to keep up with this blog more consistently in the future. I realized the other day that blogging is something that I really enjoy. I will keep you all posted on how the future continues to unfold and I plan to overhaul my blog in the coming months so that it is more conducive to the new direction that I feel God is leading me to, through this. Until next time friends!!
I feel that my life is still evolving. Right now, I am waiting to hear back from graduate school to see if I have been accepted to begin my journey as a Speech Language Pathologist. I love this field of work and I know that God has filled my heart with this passion for a reason. I should know within the month if I was accepted or not so prayers would definitely be appreciated! I'm excited to see what other blessings God has waiting for me.
I hope to keep up with this blog more consistently in the future. I realized the other day that blogging is something that I really enjoy. I will keep you all posted on how the future continues to unfold and I plan to overhaul my blog in the coming months so that it is more conducive to the new direction that I feel God is leading me to, through this. Until next time friends!!
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