God has a tendency of showing us His plans in very gradual and mysterious ways. Once we understand His plans though, it can be life-changing…

Before I gave my life to Christ, I had determined for myself that I would enroll in the Nursing degree program and become an RN. With each year that came and went, I felt less and less sure about that decision.

I continuously tried to convince myself that everything would be better after grad, and that I would be happy working in the profession even if I wasn’t enjoying the program. Don’t get me wrong- Nursing is an amazing profession and there were definitely aspects of it that I LOVED, but over the past two years God started really putting a desire in me to reach out to vulnerable populations in a different way. In the hospital setting I found my heart often breaking over the fact that I was caring for patients struggling with problems that could have been prevented years ago with different lifestyle choices or the right social support, and for dying patients who didn’t know Jesus. That’s when I realized that my passion was for prevention: prevention of bad and unhealthy lifestyle choices, prevention of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety related to isolation; most importantly, prevention of people dying before they find hope in Jesus. I wanted to share Jesus with the hurting and vulnerable people in our city. God had been preparing me for a career change in so many ways that I didn’t even realize over a period of two years. I won’t get into the details, but looking back I’m often in awe at how God orchestrates things so perfectly.

Last December I was at the end of my second-last semester of my Nursing degree. Almost 5 whole years of post-secondary and that’s when God decided to ask me to take a huge step of faith.

Like the story of Peter in Matthew 14, God was calling me to take a step of faith out into the unknown.

I know there are people who have questioned my sanity or thought I was silly to withdraw so near to the end of my degree to work in Youth Ministry instead. That might be true…but God was calling me to take a step of faith by not finishing. I wavered back and forth debating whether I should still finish my degree so I’d have a “fallback plan”. If we ended up being in a tight situation financially or really couldn’t afford my job change, I could go back to work as a nurse. God persistently placed it on my heart that I needed to make the decision in full faith that He will provide. In Matthew 4:20 it talks about how Jesus called several fishermen to leave their occupations and radically change their lives by becoming his disciples. They didn’t ask any questions or try to think of a safe fall-back plan. It says that “they immediately left their nets and followed him.” I was called in the same way to make a radical decision to leave everything behind to follow him. So I did. I haven’t regretted it a single day since then.

My work with Youth for Christ has brought be so much closer to God. It’s taught me trust, daily dependence, deep and expectant prayer, and perseverance. I’m thankful every day that God equips me to share His love with teens in our city and has given me a passion for His kingdom. I’m thankful that He’s been able to use the testimony of my own broken past to have a greater connection with the teens I work with now. He really does create beauty from ashes.

It’s often easier to choose the path of least resistance- easier to go with the more rational and secure option instead of choosing something that will require trust and be difficult. But…I’ve learned that it won’t satisfy. “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” I’m thankful to serve a God who seriously always knows best.

“And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to HIS purpose.” Romans 8:28