Jen’s Gem: Step out into God’s plan for your life.

I have been blogging for just shy of ten years. That’s a long time my friend. It all began with my Frittabello baby gift business when I would share snippets of my parenting journey in my weekly newsletters, which then resonated with my readers. That morphed into my Parenting for Purpose blogs and after that, the Elevate the Day posts that you’re reading right now.

Every Sunday morning, I grab my second cup of coffee (you don’t want to read anything I’ve written before the requisite amount of caffeine is in my body!), head to my office to write about a topic that was on my heart for the week or sometimes, that morning. I thoroughly enjoy this time – sharing my faith journey with you.

For a while now, I’ve felt constrained by this medium. I’ve wanted to write more and to share additional details of the experience, the lessons I learned, and how God’s blessings manifested in the situation. Some have advised me to write a book to which I have responded, “There’s one on my computer as we speak that just needs to be re-edited.” Others have suggested speaking engagements, but those are tough to come by (paid ones anyway).

Then, in answer to prayer about what to do, I noticed my local community college was offering an “Intro to Podcasting” class. A few of my freelance writing clients were interested in pursuing this medium, so I thought I should learn more about it.

Shortly after I registered for the class, I was asked to be on aFacebook Live event with Karen Jensen Salisbury.  Despite a couple of technical glitches, those few minutes sharing my message and lesson that God taught me, ignited an idea. What if I did a podcast? Hmmm….

As I learned more about this new media and listened to the ideas of my classmates, I got even more excited. I’ve always wanted to have my own radio show (TV too) and I thought this could be even better. It’s free. It has the capability of reaching a lot of people. And it’s pretty simple.

I was pumped to start this new venture and ideas of topics began to pop into my head faster than I could jot them down. I began to envision recording each show and how it would be organized. I secured the name on a podcasting app, even recorded a few test episodes to see how it felt. “Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” as they say.

But then, one day I was out walking and fear got a hold of me. Not a little fear, but big fat whopping fear. Messages of “You can’t do this.” “You don’t know enough about God’s Word to share your faith.” “No one will listen.“ The list goes on and on and let me tell you, it got a lot worse.

Memories of past pursuits that did not turn out the way I wanted plagued me. I began to stumble over how to even describe the show and other details. While I could easily help my classmates in their endeavors, I was paralyzed with my own. 

Then something miraculous happened. I saw this quote on Instagram by Albert Einstein:

“A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it’s built for.”

Whoa. Days later, as I perused social media, I began to see many of my past ideas for ventures being done by other people.

How could they possibly know what I was thinking? They didn’t. God did. And when He saw me not stepping out, He gave the idea to someone else. You see, one way or another, His plan is going to play out. It has to.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

I love this Bible verse so much that its reference is tattooed on my shoulder. As if to solidify this potential next chapter in my life, a church member shared a powerful video with me about creating a vision for your life. (By the way, I highly, highly recommend you watch. It’s life-changing.)

In a few days, I will celebrate my birthday. I won’t lie. The number is a bit scary. Years are slipping by like sand in an hourglass. I realized however, that “time waits for no man,” and that if I want to step out into God’s plan for me, well, then, I have to step out.

There was a reason the name of my podcast was not taken. There was a reason that podcasting class was being offered for the first time. There was a reason that my friend shared that video. The list goes on and on. I wasn’t built to stay on the shore. Neither were you. You were created for great things. If you don’t believe that, I encourage you to meditate on the other great things God created. The sun, moon, stars, planets, oceans, mountains, and so much more.

This week, I’d like to encourage you to re-visit the vision you once had for your life. Watch the video I reference above. Write down what makes your heart sing. Then, pull up your anchor and set sail. That’s what I intend to do as well.