What is Your "Why"?

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “What is your ‘Why’?” and once you have established what it is I hope you’ll take time to reflect on whether your efforts are actually aligned with your ‘why’. My ‘why’ has always been my family – their happiness, our completeness, our future. My decisions in life and in my work have been a reflection of making my family my priority.

I have worked hard to give the best life for my children and to show them the result of hard work. While 20 years in the same career is a long time, I did not start off with the expectation that I’d do the same thing for that long, or that I even had some sort of strategic plan in place to go after success.

One of the most asked questions I heard over the years was “did you ever expect the business to grow like it did?”. I always answered that of course I didn’t expect it, nor would I have wanted to know how large the company was going to become. The understanding of why we were doing such hard work was what I kept front of mind throughout all we did. I truly believe that had I known from the beginning that we would be moving out of state six years later, I would have run the other way. My husband and I had never lived anywhere other than east Tennessee and couldn’t imagine we would ever leave.

The Bible says “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3-4 ESV. I truly feel that no matter what you are working toward, if you give the control to God he will guide your steps. I am an admitted control freak and as much as I like to believe that my faith in God leads every decision I make, I know better. I have found myself many times taking steps toward a goal only to find that God is pointing me in a different direction.

I know for sure that there were things I dreamed of that God knew were not in our best interest as a family. He redirected us in a way that was clear that we were not the ones in control. There were times when doors closed and it seemed there was no path to follow, but God intervened and led us to the next step without fail.

It’s easy to lose sight of the times that God has had your back in a big life decision. One thing that I have done for over 20 years is writing in a journal about both the big decisions in life as well as the little ones. My journal writings have given me so many opportunities to find evidence of God’s hand working in my life. I encourage you to write your thoughts and record your feelings in a journal. It doesn’t have to be an everyday habit, so whether it's on a weekly basis or a monthly basis,

I think you’ll find that you have a clearer mind after your thoughts are down on paper. I’ve been on a personal journey this last year that has led to a place of contentment and happiness that I have searched for my entire life. Things are not perfect, by far, but the story of my life is unfolding in a way that I can say that whatever happens next is going to exceed my expectations. God has a way of doing that every time.