Ordeal or Journey: What is your experience?

Frustration is real! I have been frustrated from time to time about several things, and yet I always remember to whisper God or Jesus. It amazes me how the name can calm me down. Ordeal is defined as a painful or horrible experience. Journey is defined as travel from one place to another. In 2014, my frustrations led me to pray differently and think about what was holding me back in life. I felt I was living the nice and simple single life. Divorced, no kids, and the sky was truly the limit so why not shake things up a bit after all it was just ME!!

I began to ask God for a move not sure where or truly why. There were several cities in my view: Nashville, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago. These cities were clear because I could always work in the field I was in at that time and transition smoothly. After much prayer, Nashville made the most sense. I checked out the demographics, familiarity, not too far from my family, it was a winning choice.

I made the journey so I thought in March 2015! Some things were very trying from the start, yet I was determined to see this move through. What seemed to be unpretentious and God led began to unfold as an ordeal! Had I truly heard the voice of God? Test after test, trial after trial, issue after issue, I wanted to scream. I was spiraling and didn’t know if I liked it, loved it, or truly needed to re-focus. For some when spiraling you truly go to your weakest desires, and my friend, this can become dangerous depending on your poison! Often times, we create the craziest situations and handle them because some of us choose not to appear fragile. I handled every ordeal along the journey I have been taking since 2015. When you get tired of the emptiness you wise up quickly! Foundation and back to the basics are key……

Today the year is 2020, of course, and the moment I thought things were changing into “shoot the breeze” journey mode again, the world is hit with a frustrating circumstance. Coronavirus! I will not waste a lot of time on that matter because most people have read, listened to, joked about, or just ignored the severity of it! In February of this year, I decided to stop hiding behind the umbrella of my beloved Christian Education journey. More to come on that later! Nevertheless, I find myself encouraging and counseling others through their ordeals or journeys. It amazes me that some days I don’t feel properly equipped and simply go to God in prayer. Yet, the more people I encounter I realized that we are all trying to define if we are facing an ordeal or taking God’s journey. What choice have you made? What deserts have you crossed? Do you understand the difference and how strategic the chessboard is? The choice is very simple, experience God and say Yes, take the journey! Leave those daring outcomes from dumb decisions alone and you will find your ordeals are no longer!