Today I Knew

Today I knew. 

I knew what to do. 

I knew what not to do. 

The last few months for me have been focused on answering the question “What will I do next?” I have an interesting background career-wise. My resume is a bit confusing to those who do not know me. Family Ministries Director, Sales Director, Substitute Teacher, and Restaurant General Manager are all jobs I held between 2015-2022. These are completely unique roles in very different industries. But all my work over the past seven years have had a few things in common.

The first is that they are centered around people. Serving people, teaching people, encouraging and coaching people. They are all consumer focused, whether the consumer is a church family, client, student, or diner. In order to be successful in each of these roles, I had to learn about people, listen to people, and appreciate people. I have not done that perfectly, but I have done it enough to be “successful” in each of these career areas.

The second commonality is that these jobs required me to learn. Switching from church ministry to a sales career involves vastly different networking circles and social skills. Those I would serve in church want to be there, those I would serve in sales didn’t always know they would want my product before explaining it to them. There’s a sense of trust missing which required me to learn different relational skills. Fine dining is a beast all on its own. Managing people, meeting guests’ needs, and maintaining a strict budget meant I had an entirely separate set of skills to learn. This doesn’t even account for food and wine knowledge and the completely new content of my day-to-day work I had to learn. 

The third uniting factor of these roles involves my passion and fulfillment while working in them. My favorite part of these jobs was working closely with people to support them in becoming who God made them to be; seeing them step into their own purpose and thrive. I believe in abundant life, I believe in building confidence, and I believe everyone has unique gifts that can be used to serve themselves and others. My passion is in learning and teaching what I have learned. My passion is in encouraging those around me to be proud of who God made them to be. 

As I process what my next career will be, it’s easy to see what jobs are presented before me and think “I could do that” or “I would enjoy that” or “I would be good at that.” But today I knew those were not the right questions. I knew that’s not what my next season will be. It’s going to be something I don’t even have the words for yet. 

I knew it would involve teaching people. I knew it would involve writing. I knew it would involve learning. I knew it would fill my days with activities and appointments that make my heart happy. 

Even though I didn’t know what to call it, today I knew. 

I knew what to do. And I knew what not to do.