Do you remember a time when you knew you were exactly where you were suppose to be?
Life has a way of moving along so quickly that we can hardly differentiate the decisions that we made that brought us to where we are. And before long, it feels like we can’t change directions even if our happiness or purpose depends on it.
When I was in Ecuador on my first international mission trip, I knew that was the future I wanted. But I also realized that that future was polar opposite of the expectations back at home (farmers typically have no desire or time to be world travelers!). Ecuador was the first huge step in creating my own purposeful journey toward being exactly where I am meant to be.
But that journey takes many turns, not always in the right direction.
After Ecuador, I finished high school, then college with short term missions spread throughout. Sometime during my last semester, I came across the World Race. 11 countries in 11 months. Now that would be living the dream!
And in October of 2008, I began my World Race travels! It was an amazing, heart wrenching, exhausting, inspiring, fun, crazy adventure.
5 years later, here I am writing this with 2 little kids playing near me, a supportive husband, and a business that helps keep me connected to the international missions world and feeling like I’m still making a difference. It doesn’t quite look how I expected it to all those years ago, but life is full of choices and for now this is where I’m suppose to be.
But 3 years ago, this was not the case. I was working a full time job, at a desk, training to become a manager. I was honestly miserable, bored, and wondering how in the world that had become my reality. Yes, it was a ‘great’ job, great pay, great benefits, but was it worth it? Worth leaving my daughter every morning, worth feeling like nothing I did really mattered. No. And so slowly (with a lot of encouragement from my husband), I began to dream again. I thought about the things that truly mattered to me, what I wanted my/our future to look like, and of course dreaming about this business dream that God had laid on my heart in 2007.
It wasn’t overnight, and my business was not yet profitable. But I figured out a way to change the direction my life had taken. Baby steps, until finally we decided that I just needed to quit my job. And that decision, that step that was full of fear and uncertainly, made all the difference.
The truth is, we can ALWAYS change direction! If you dream of a different reality than you have right now, all it takes is a small step every day for that reality to change. We have each been created for a purpose and that purpose is more important than the expectations of everyone around us.
