When the Big Decisions Come
Does it ever feel like every choice you make is a big one that could alter the course of your life? Like you’re constantly at a new fork in the road and you have to choose which of very different ways to go? It’s an incredible blessing to be able to stand in this place and choose… but it can seem impossible in the moment to know which way is better. So what do you do?
Lately, I’ve been feeling this a lot. Because when nothing is for sure, anything is possible… I’m at this great place in my life where I can choose anything, be anything, do anything, go anywhere—and I must figure out what I want. While God has a plan for each of us, I think He allows us to help design the trajectory of our lives, and we do this through each decision we make.I see so much adventure and beauty in this, but I’ve also been feeling the weight of these decisions because of their power to affect a lot. The most recent one was what to do after this semester in Georgia ends. With only a month left, the world is at my fingertips and I find myself at another crossroads deciding which path to take.
So as a mini life-update of sorts… I’ve decided to stay here in Georgia for one more semester. My reason in short is that amazing things are happening here and I just need more time. I feel like God used the World Race to begin a lot of growth in me and is now using this program to continue and solidify this growth. It’s not just about learning how to lead well but rather learning things that affect who I am as a person and will therefore affect my entire life—things like understanding and valuing my story, realizing and believing in what I have to offer, knowing where my true value comes from and learning to walk in my real identity, and beginning to recognize my own needs and care for them so I can then care for others better too. It’s about learning to see things differently, growing in ways I didn’t see coming, and taking steps to create the life I want to live. This isn’t just a season of preparing for the next thing… it’s one of actively and intentionally investing in growth, because I know the rest of my life will make it worth it. I understand that it’s hard for people to see how another semester will lead to a career, because I honestly don’t see how it will either. But in the last year and a half, the way I see this all has changed: for me, it’s not about the “job” … it’s about the way I live my life in whatever I’m doing. I think our careers are great opportunities for us to be the people we want to be, but sometimes we get so caught up in our titles that we lose sight of the big picture and our greatest purposes. The simplest way I can explain my decision to stay is this… That while I still don’t know what I want to do, I have a much clearer idea of who I want to be, and being here is helping me to become that person. It was a difficult decision because for every great thing we choose, we’re often giving up something else great… but I feel very confident that this is the right choice. Thank you to every single one of you who believes in what God’s doing in my life and has supported me in being here. It may not be the common journey, but it sure is a good one, and I’m so thankful for everyone who has been part of it!
In the last couple years, I’ve learned a thing or two about what to do when the big decisions come… what to do when you’re standing at a fork in the road and have to decide which way to go. The reality is that we’ll never know in the moment if we’re making the right choice because it’s often the results of these choices that makes it clear; we can only make our choices for the right reasons, and this is enough. Then regardless of the outcome, we can look back at our decision and know that we did the very best thing we could have in that moment. It’s easy to think we’ll miss God’s “best” for us if we choose the wrong path, but we must remember that He has the power to create bridges between paths to take us where He wants us to be. So next time you find yourself at a crossroads, unsure which path to take… make your choice for the right reasons and CHOOSE BOLDLY.
