Jobless

Perhaps you have graduated from college with a beautiful degree that you’re not entirely sure how to use… Then you apply for job after job, finding that while the world loves your education, they are really looking for some more experience on that resume…

I get it, I’ve been there.

This is extremely common today for college graduates; Building an anonymous career can be confusing and painstaking.

Joshua Earle at Stocksnap.io

In my journey, so far, I cling to this one line of hope that experience has taught me:

Every job leads to the next.

Serving on Social Life Committee gave me experience in event planning that landed me an internship in a radio station’s promotions team.

Pressing t-shirts for an apparel company led to creating and managing the same company’s social media accounts.

My volunteer work for Authentic Intimacy led to a promising career as a Marriage Education Program Supervisor.

From Walmart to Aerie, Apparel to Car Parts, to Board member and Supervisor.

Unfortunately, a job I loved came to a halt one year into my experience. We were not chosen to receive our primary grant funding, and the whole operation was closed- rendering me jobless.

And now I am on the edge of a cliff waiting to take another risky jump to dive deep into a new body of experience.

However cliche it might be- with every door closed, another opens. After a brief time of shock and grief, an excitement has stirred in me.

Why?- because every job leads to the next.

What will the next be this time?

I enjoyed my job- updating my educators on marital trends, training them in solid curriculum, all for the purpose of holding families together and enriching their relationships with communication and resolution tools.

My husband and I were right on track to kick our loans to the curb by 2017.

We had it all planned out, we could handle it all on our own.

But now we have to lean on God to handle it, and we are trading our plan in for His plan.

Not too long ago I talked about how I wanted to “remake my life” and now I have no strings attached, nothing holding me back from embracing that goal.

A new door stands open, and a new adventure awaits! As I think about it, I can’t help but be a bit excited.

When have you felt a chapter closing in your life? Were you excited or scared for a new beginning? What might you be called to close or jump into today?

Remake Your Life

Quote & Photo Courtesy of Shauna Niequist

The author of my daily devotional, Savor, posted this quote on her facebook wall. The words keep resonating in my heart and echoing through my mind.

I believe it’s worth it, too.

It’s worth it to turn the ship around, and finally begin the journey in the right direction.

Yes, we may lose something… we may lose the time we spent on the wrong career, the money we spent at the wrong school and in the wrong major, the people we called friends… maybe. Maybe not.

God has a funny way of weaving all of our experiences together to make up who we are.  Our destiny is often tied up in our past, and you never know how God will redeem it.

If you’re scared that you will lose too much, keep in mind that the sooner you turn the ship the less backtracking you will have to do.  You’ll cut your losses of time, money, energy, and you’ll have more time to invest in the right path.

Just thinking about it burns my heart up.

I want to remake my life.

All of the happiest and most successful people I know have started over and remade their lives… multiple times.

My mom and dad have had more businesses than I can count or recall. My brother has moved to Chicago, Orlando, and Minneapolis, and traded up jobs several times… all to restart again. Moving from a career in computers to one as a financial adviser.

Ed Catmul wanted to be an artist, but lacking the skills he went to school for physics and came out with a degree in it and computer science. At the time this seemed far from art.. physics? Then he did the unthinkable by blending computer science with animation, and after many new beginnings, he is the well-known president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

My sweet husband went to school for environmental science, but God called him out of that. Tap had to remake his life to fit God’s call, and transferred schools for Worship Ministry.

Countless entrepreneurs had to begin somewhere, and many had to begin again… and again. Usually coming out stronger, more defined, and more fueled with passion then ever before.

Life is short, wild, and ambitious. We need to rise up and meet the challenge and embrace the whims of it.

It’s better to remake your life now, than look back with regret.

Don’t wait until you have all your ducks in a row.

Don’t wait until the kids are grown.

Don’t wait until forever.

It takes time to remake your life, so you better start now.

The sooner you start the longer you can savor.

What do you want to remake your life into? What is your first step? What remaking have you already done in your life?

Cute, Beautiful, OR Sexy?

In Junior High, I was sitting down in our makeshift computer lab working on an assignment. The boy next to me kept inquiring about my best friend at the time, whom he had a crush on.  I don’t remember the specifics, but it was probably a lot of – Does she like anyone right now? Would she like me? Has she mentioned anything? yadayadayada.  Then it turned into less questions and more of a narrative- She’s absolutely beautiful… so on, and so on.  I was used to it, she was pretty popular, and I was easy to talk to.  Eventually, I asked what made her beautiful in his eyes.  He then broke it down for me, there were differences and levels of looks among the young girls in our class.  There was cute, beautiful, or sexy.  I, he said, landed in the “cute” category.  I think he had said all three were equal, but separate; He wasn’t rude about it, but it obviously made an impression on me.

I want to tell you, these three things are not completely isolated from one-another.  We are not just cute.  We do not need to compare ourselves to the sexy ones, or wish we had just a little more to push us over into the beautiful category. In fact, in every human being all three attributes exist.  Although, each attribute needs to be nurtured and manifested.

CUTE : appealing and delightful; charming:keen, clever

I believe Cute is expressed in the quirky personality traits that make each individual unique.  The way one throws their head back when they laugh, how they dance when they clean, when they whistle as they work.  The faces they make, the phrases they always use, their way of relaxing or socializing. Cute is the personality! Cute is how you express yourself, it is simply what makes you you and not them.

Beautiful : possessing qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about; delighting the senses or mind

Beautiful describes the heart.  Do you love often, freely, without judgement or reserve? Do you give even when you cannot get? Do you serve, sacrifice, commit?  Do you work with integrity?  Do you run from evil, refuse to speak ill, and strive for God’s standards in your life?  God has given us guidelines to beauty! The beautiful are those who pursue and bear the Fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5:22-23a:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Beauty is your soul and heart. Through Christ’s sacrifice the ugly has been taken away, through the Holy Spirit we have the power and ability to grasp beauty, and with God’s word we can learn about the characteristics of true beauty that we should pursue.

Sexy : excitingly appealing; glamorous; sexually interesting or exciting; radiating sexuality

Everyone is created as a sexual being.  God created sex, and encourages us to pursue sex uninhibitedly within the confines of marriage.  You are sexy where you are, and you are encouraged to celebrate that sexiness in your marriage!  Do not compare yourself to the twisted, degraded, and degenerate form of “sex” in the media.  Sex is to be your intimate secret, holy, unifying, knowing act between you and your spouse.  You are sexy, God designed you to be.

 

I want you to know that YOU are CUTE, BEAUTIFUL, and SEXY!  Believe it, Embrace it, and Live it in confidence.