God’s Better Plan

My life is living proof that God’s plan is better, and that he has a purpose for every pain. I feel like I should say especially for every pain. In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, God has done some of his best work in my life during my most painful and confusing seasons.

It was in such a season that God began to reveal a new dream and purpose to me, but when I look back on my life, I can see his hand shaping me and guiding me to this very time in my life. And I’m still trying to process it.

I never imagined that I would be a writer. When I considered my future, it never even crossed my mind. But here I am over a decade into my career having written for retail brands, translation companies, authors and agencies.

Looking back on my life though, it makes sense. I’ve always loved reading and music. Through books and songs, I learned lessons and processed emotions, and I still can’t get enough of either. As a child, I learned that if something was really bothering me, I couldn’t start to let it go until I had written it down. I had no idea that God would use that and use me to be a voice of encouragement for others.

I never knew what I wanted to do for my career, but through God’s divine plan and guidance, I ended up with a degree in communications and a minor in history. Between the two programs, I found myself writing a lot, but I didn’t mind. After graduation, I found myself interning for a copywriting team, and from there, I went on to work in the corporate world writing marketing and technical copy.

I did this for a decade and really enjoyed writing. But in 2020, God began to give me a desire to do something more meaningful with my work. I wanted to use my voice and experiences to write about things that mattered and would help people. He was giving me a holy discontentment with my comfort zone and calling me to my purpose.

Then, a year later, out of the blue, my sister was diagnosed with cancer and I became one of her caregivers. Everything that had been important to me no longer mattered. Making sure my family and I made it from one day to the next was all I could focus on.

When my family rallied together to figure out who would take on what responsibilities, I volunteered to run the website we used to update people on my sister. We had family, friends, coworkers and friends of friends that we didn’t even know praying for us and leaving us encouraging messages. It was such a blessing.

As I made updates on the website, I wanted to make sure that people knew that the only way we were able to put one foot in front of the other was God. He was the source of our strength and a very present help in time of need. It was just as important to share how he was at work as it was to share how my sister was doing. It’s hard for me to explain, but when I was writing those posts, it felt like a puzzle coming together. The peace I had was unexplainable – my world just felt right in those moments.

Soon after I began writing about all that God was doing, we began to get messages and feedback about how encouraged people were by what I had written. I honestly didn’t really even understand, I was just processing, but God knew. He knew that he had a plan and a purpose for my voice and writing during that season.

A year later, I was part of downsizing at my job and in the market for a new one. Fast forward a couple of months, and I found myself at I Am Second through God’s intentional plan. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I began to take on work and I wrote my first blogs – once again just sharing what God has taught me – that familiar peaceful feeling settled over me. When I’m writing, I feel God’s presence guiding me and I know I’m doing what he wants me to do. It’s not a plan I had for my life, but it’s so much better than anything I thought of.

So friend, if you’re in a season that’s hard or you just don’t know what to do, the best advice I can give you is to not give up hope and keep moving forward. Do the next thing you know to do and trust that God will lead you where he wants you. He will help you find your purpose and your voice. It may be something you’ve not even considered but will give you way more peace and purpose than you ever dreamed possible.

As Jeremiah 29:11, my sister’s favorite verse, says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”