If I’ve learned anything the past ten years, it’s been to write my plans in pencil. By nature I’m driven, goal oriented and tend to be absolute and resolute in my thinking.
I think all of us can be this way. It’s silly really. In a futile attempt to control our lives and assume we have the world under control, we think, “If I can just choose a path and stay on it, then everything will be okay. Everything will be safe. This will be what I do and this will be who I am.” We crave security in a very un-secure world.
But I’ve found life rarely works that way. We are meant to be ever evolving, ever changing, willing to take risks, to make mistakes and learn from them. We are meant to live trusting God, admitting we don’t have it all figured out, and embracing big seasons of wild risk. I believe God does this in his graceful and loving way to gently remind us that HE is in control, not us. Yes, we get to steward the beautiful yet horrible gift of choice and free will, but at the end of the day HE will make his plans unfold. If we read the Bible front to back we will see a wild life of risk and faith in just about every story. We will read about imperfect people courageously choosing the wilderness with Jesus over all else.
He makes us new there. More like him there.
So over the past decade I’ve been a police officer, a personal trainer and nutrition coach, an activist and abolitionist, a non-profit leader and director, a worship leader, occasional preacher, business owner, a wife, a step-mom, and now a grandmother when I should be having kids of my own. I’ve learned that very few things are finite. God moves in seasons more than we realize or want.
My life is full and messy. It’s peaceful and passionate. It’s nothing like I’ve planned or written down yet I wouldn’t have it any other way. In each path that my life has taken and will continue to take, immense risk has been involved. Shaky and messy faith overflowing. Each path has shown me good and bad about myself. What to water and what needs to be pruned. I don’t know of anything else that will do this faster in your life than embracing risk.
Risk increases our trust.
Risk increases our courage.
Risk increases grace.
So I don’t know if you’re struggling with life not looking life you thought it would, or maybe you want things to look different but the risk seems so huge. Fear not. You are more powerful than you realize.
Here’s my gentle nudge to you my friend, God’s with you in it all and through it all. If you jump off the cliff he will be holding your hand one way or another. Youre life is meant to have seasons of wildness. Embrace the risk. Welcome the change. Keep growing. Ten years from now you will still be writing your story. Find your aliveness and protect it at all cost.
Passion Is Everything.
xo,
Get real talk, no B.S. business advice on creating a business doing what you love.