Happy Saturday, sis! Or whatever day it is for you! Today I woke up with the motivation to continue day 2 of 10 of me changing my diet chyle lol. We want to be healthy and clear of disease but do we do and maintain what’s required?? Whewww, *insert a Holy Ghost shout right here.* In the pursuit of honoring my body (God’s temple) and treating myself good (self-love), I’m at least gonna try to eat differently! Now, onto today’s subject. Let’s talk about What’s Next, which is the premise of this blog. I wanted to reel it in today just in case you’ve been reading my preceding entries and are wondering to yourself how it all relates to What’s Next on your journey to fulfillment. Everything that we’ve discussed thus far, such as properly addressing our life struggles, discovering our purpose, allowing God to do a GOOD work in us, developing our spiritual maturity, readying ourselves for Future Bae and walking in righteousness, allll relates to fulfillment. Look at each of those things and whatever other subject matters that may specifically apply to your life. And now imagine if you could get those things as close to perfect as possible. Wouldn’t you feel and be wayyyyyyy more fulfilled than you are right now?? Chyleeee I know I would!!! So what I’m saying today, ladies, is that leveling up in our lives, all across the board, leads to ultimate fulfillment! What’s Next is straightening out areas of our lives that need to be straightened. What’s Next is us looking at our talents and gifts and using them. What’s Next is us taking life by the horns instead of it taking us by the horns. What’s Next is us growing closer to Christ. All of these things require determination, consistency and willpower. All things you can get from the Almighty, by the way. What God is showing me is that He has great things for me. A great purpose. A great husband. A fulfilling life (Jeremiah 29:11). However, I have to do the work it requires to obtain those things. We’ve put in the work for everything else we’ve acquired in life right? So the What’s Next aspect requires that same energy boo! God doesn’t assume the role of a magician, we have to do our part too. So, we can’t sit in defeat. We can’t throw a pity party everyday staying stuck and feeling dry. We have to put that work in! If we want to thrive in projects that bring us joy outside of our 9 to 5’s then we can’t just talk or daydream about it. We gotta be about it! We gotta research, create schedules, game plans and show up to that thing everyday. If we want to show Christ that we’re ready for the wonderful man of God he has for us, who is leveling up in his own life and embodies character, integrity, leadership, discipline, love, etc. then we have to start becoming and doing those things ourselves! Along with intentionally working on myself in those specific areas, I’ve also put a stop to entertaining men who I know are not God’s best for me–just for the sake of having a man around –that right there is a majorrrr keyyyy *DJ Khaled voice*. I have to face my singleness & my lonely moments, and I can’t fold nor succumb to anyone or anything that isn’t God’s best because that’s truly what self love and strength looks like sis! I have to trust God in the areas I feel most vulnerable in no matter if that means I am alone for a little while. I have to lean on His strength and endurance when mine runs out, knowing that if I straighten out the areas of my life that need to be straightened, He will pull up on me with blessings I won’t even have room to receive (Malachi 3:10)! A major reason why I came to the point of unfulfillment in my life is because I measured my happiness on the basis of my earthly accomplishments. So when I reached a level of success, educationally and professionally, that I was pretty comfortable with, and life became a little more sedentary, it started to make me wonder What’s Next??? I have the two degrees, I bought the house, I have the six figure job sooooooo now what??? And this is the part of life that school doesn’t prepare you for, sis. Maybe the unsatisfaction with my job is my fault, maybe I should’ve gone into something way more fulfilling, but, chyleee, we here now and the mortgage got to be paid. I thank God for provision!!! 😉 So, yes, the money from my job is good, but it doesn’t bring me joy to wake up everyday and go there, sis. If that’s not your current experience then I’m cheering for you, girl–genuinely. Life may teach you how to attain things but it doesn’t teach you what to do once you’ve secured them and you still feel blah. Therefore, for me, God used my unhappiness to usher me into something greater than me, greater than my degrees, greater than all of my accomplishments thus far– and that thing is my purpose. Let’s stop right here and give our good Lord a *praise break*. Isn’t it mind-blowing that only God could take something you are so exhausted with and use that thing to usher you right on into something new that would ignite in you a new fire for life and bring you joy??? WOW. I don’t know if that does anything to your spirit, sis, but it got me in here fired up okay?!?!? God is so good and the way He shows His power in our lives is beyond our understanding! Before I became exhausted and underwhelmed with life as I knew it last year, I was moving and shaking in life having a good ol time, not focusing on the things God wanted me to focus on. It took me getting to a point of unfulfillment to make me think about my true purpose. If God didn’t allow a little pain, a little strain, a little stress and even a little depression to surface, I would’ve never thought about how I could take my life to the next level and do it for His glory. Whewwww. That’s big. But let us not assume the idea that God brings pain or unhappiness to us in order for Him to get us working on His priorities for us. No. Me being unfulfilled on my job, etc. is not God’s fault. I took that job and I’ve also made some not-so-great decisions in dating that have left me with some scars (the Lord gives us free will). And even in the midst of me feeling blah as a result, GOD IS STILL BLESSING ME, AND YOU! So God is, and will always be good, merciful and graceful. He definitely got my attention through my struggle though (go back and read that entry if you haven’t yet). The point of me telling you all of this is to begin to enlighten you on how God can take your broken pieces and USE THEM for your good and for His glory (Genesis 50:20).
If you can relate to this, sis, then I challenge you to first not give in to any heaviness or confusion you may feel. Don’t let it paralyze you and keep you stagnate. I challenge you to be strong. God created you to be and when your strength runs thin, His strength will keep you going. I challenge you to level up. Eradicate the excuses. Become the person you want to attract. Love yourself and get rid of anything or anyone that does not look like God’s best for you. Be strong. Cling to the promises of God (open that Bible to read about them, sis). Finally, I challenge you to start looking at your gifts and identify your talents. How can what you’re good at help someone else? Research the channels you can utilize to bring your gift forth in real-time. I guarantee you’ll gradually start to figure out What’s Next.
I love you, girl! Don’t forget to follow me on IG – @whatsnextsis
Jess
