Do not follow where the path may lead–go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
‘This is the way, walk in it.’ ”
Isaiah 30 : 21 NKJV
Allowing the Holy Spirit of God to lead and direct your personal pathway of life may often times take you in different directions and into different arenas of accomplishment than you ever thought about or planned to go. Do not be afraid to follow your heart and the “nudging” of your own conscience, even when they…take you down…pathways that you have not previously given great thought to or about. You were designed and created with a special and personal purpose and cause for your life. Achieving God’s plan for your life is the ultimate accomplishment of great and glorious blessings for you. Many other people’s lives will be positively influenced and impacted by and through you,…if you will but follow your own heart and travel the path and pursue the purpose God has preplanned for you. You will definitely know when you find and are traveling this divine plan for your life. If there is ever any question or doubt if the plan you are pursuing is indeed God’s Plan for your life, then for certain it is NOT His Plan for your life! You will know,…that you know,…that it is His Plan when you finally find it. Your personal conscience will confirm it to you. Once you locate and confirm that it is God’s Plan you are following for your life,…then pursue that plan and pathway with great passion, excitement, and commitment. Let your action and performance tell all the world that you are indeed on the right course for your life. Never give up, reject further efforts, or waver in the passionate pursuit of your God given Plan.
Please permit me to share a couple of personal stories about two men who began their life’s journey towards success, but later discovered it was not God’s Plan for their lives and wisely made corrections and adjustments enabling themselves to get back on the track that God had originally designed and desired for them to travel.
The first story please…….
There once was a boy who happened to be so ugly and so shabbily clothed that he was continually tormented by his schoolmates and other associates. Everyone around him seemed to delight in harassing this boy and making fun of his lowly plight in life. In order to keep his own sanity and to escape the other children’s taunts, this unattractive boy turned to reading books,….books about men of all ages,…about men of all kinds…about men of great personal achievement. At the age of eighteen he took a job as a bricklayer. After a very short time, however, he decided that he did not want to be a bricklayer, but rather, he greatly desired to be a playwright. He forged a new path in his life and was eventually honored by Queen Elizabeth I and highly decorated for his works by King James of England. This man’s name was Ben Johnson. He left his knowledge, training, and expertise in one arena, passed through his comfort zone and moved on into a bigger arena where he became very much more than he had achieved in his initial zone of performance as a bricklayer. He left the lesser, stretched himself out of his comfort zone, and moved to a much higher and greater level of life. Ben Johnson began from a lowly position of a common laborer, overcame all the obstacles in his life, and rose higher to become one of the most brilliant playwrights in all of England’s history.
A different story, different people, different arenas….same result!
Oliver Goldsmith was the son of a poor preacher. He was considered by those around him to be a very sensitive but rather morbid child. His schoolmaster labeled him, “a stupid blockhead.” He struggled through the school system and finally earned a college degree, but graduated at the very bottom of his class. His credentials and demeanor were much less than exemplary, and his life was filled with failures…BUT…he persevered. He was rejected from becoming a preacher. He later tried a career in law, but did not make it in that field of endeavor either. He persevered. He borrowed a suit of clothes and took an examination to be an assistant in a hospital,…sadly he failed at that attempt at self improvement as well.
He lived in poverty, was often ill, and once, even pawned his own clothes in exchange for food. The one thing that he wanted to do with the use of his life more than anything else was to write!
And so he forged a new trail. In the end, he rose above his past to rank among the greatest writers of all time.
Just always know and fully understand that as long as you are pursuing God’s Will for your life….what it is that you feel called to do with the use of your own life….And as long as you are committed to that which you are doing, i.e. your performance, then, more times than not, a way will open up for you. At other times, you may have to open it up for yourself!
Never be afraid or allow doubt to enter your thought process. Always be willing to move in the direction of your own dreams and goals. Never give up on your efforts and always keep moving forward.
Once you have fully come to know what God’s Will for your life truly is, and you have totally committed to pursue it with all of your heart, then nothing on this earth can keep you from achieving it as long as you refuse to quit!
Peace and Love to All of You……..Poppa Bear