You think you know the direction God would have you to go. You believe you have clarity about your next steps to do what God designed you to do. You may even want to leave your current job and step out in a new direction. But your spouse doesn’t see it. What do you do?
A reader actually sent me this question recently. It’s one I receive fairly frequently from Christians trying to figure out God’s best for their lives. And it is an important one.
Stepping out before you know how it all turns out—that’s what faith is all about. But many Christians embrace the false notion that it should be easy, or at least simple. And if it’s not, God isn’t in it.
But when we look at Scripture, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there is one thing we know we will encounter every time we change direction in life—resistance.
It’s been called the green monster. Invidia in the Latin texts. A deadly sin. And a common one. Envy.
I confess to falling for it at times. Far too many times. No matter how much success I experience, it’s never enough.
The book launch could have been bigger—like hers. The traffic could be higher—like his. The number of speaking engagements could be more—and so it goes. More. Always more.
As we strolled through our neighborhood last night, my wife and I noted features we liked about other houses, and I felt envy creeping in again—even though we have a beautiful home with more room than we’ve ever had before.
Envy, you see, is not rational. It doesn’t make sense when we think about it. But then we usually don’t think about it. We just go with the feeling and end up in a bad place.
But usually by the end of each day we’ve encountered more than a few people who appear to be enjoying success. More than we’re having, at least.
And that’s all it takes. We see it and we want it for ourselves.
Smack dab in the middle between real life and real faith is—real fear. Fear of failure. Fear that we’ll look foolish. Fear that everyone will laugh when we do fail. Fear that __________ —fill in the blank with your own fear. There’s no shortage of reasons to be afraid. But how can we stop being afraid?
I believe that for those who have trusted in Christ as their only hope, God has not left us to be paralyzed by the unknown.
Instead, His Word gives us 7 steps for overcoming fear and rising victoriously above the challenges that come our way.
That’s not to say it will be easy.
So you want to step out in a new life direction. But you’re afraid. That’s normal. Fear often keeps us from moving forward. What if I showed you the steps needed to move forward with clarity, confidence, and abundant faith to live an authentic life adventure?
First let me acknowledge that I did not follow all of the steps I am about to share with you—not intentionally anyway. Some I had to learn the hard way.
Do you know where you are headed next in life? Do you know where you should be headed next? If you’re like a lot of us, you may have accidentally fallen into a life direction instead of intentionally choosing your best path.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way.
God created each one of us with unique strengths, passions, and skills sets. He gave us each unique relationship connections that open doors of opportunity unavailable to others.
And He expects us to use it all to more fully reveal His majesty on earth as it is in heaven.
When you’re thinking about stepping out in a new life direction, you should get advice. But be careful whom you ask for input. Not everyone is qualified to give you guidance about stepping out by faith.
I mention the need to get wise and experienced counsel in Episode 10 of The FaithWalker’s Podcast.
There may be voices in our life that we respect, but if they have never attempted to do what we are contemplating, we should take their input with a grain of salt.
When you’re considering stepping out in a new life direction, you should not expect it to always be easy. There is a learning curve that each of us must experience at the start of anything new.
The curve can be scary when you’re in it, even bewildering and disorienting. That is normal.
Let me repeat that: it is normal to find the curve to be challenging.
Following your new life direction will be scary at times. You will experience turbulence.
When you step out in a new life direction it is almost always going to be harder than you thought it would be.
I wish someone had told me a few things before I stepped out to pursue a new life direction. But instead I had to learn the hard way. I offer this episode of The FaithWalker’s Podcast in the hopes that you don’t have to.
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If you are reading this in email, click here to visit FaithWalkers.com and listen online.
If you’d prefer to read a summarized version, click here to visit the site of my friend Ron Edmondson where I sketched out the main lessons learned.
I go into more detail in the podcast, so I encourage you to listen and, hopefully, learn from my experience.
Finding your life direction requires figuring out your strengths. I shared about how I discovered my strengths in this post. But for the Christian seeking to live an authentic life, it will take more than an awareness of strengths to find God’s best for your life.
It will take a Kingdom awareness.
Our strengths reside where our passions and talents unite. So if we devote the bulk of our time to doing things where those two intersect, we will be more productive and more fulfilled.
Why? Because we are doing the kinds of things God wired us to do.
You do not need to be a Christ-follower for this to be true.
But the disciples of Jesus should desire more. Jesus calls us to follow him ahead of career ambitions, the love of money, or even family ties. Our life direction priorities must align with His Kingdom priorities.
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