As I reach into my savings account and pull out this months bills to be paid out on month 5 of my unemployment I think to myself “hmm I didn’t really plan to still be HERE right now.” But I am. And somehow I’m ok with it. At least I was before I let the world seep in and make me question my motivator.
Does fear or faith motivate you?
As a human most likely your answer is probably both, even if it’s just faith in yourself or someone else or a process.
If you are faith based, then ideally faith weighs in more, but let’s be honest we still allow fear to run things a lot, and probably don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing anyway because after-all at least “fight or flight” mode allows you “get the job done”, right?! Well true, maybe. But I feel like the goal shouldn’t just be just to get it done and move forward. Life is more than a series of check-marks to cross off for most of us.
For those new to my blog, I left my occupation, one of flexibility and a good solid salary because I felt there was something more that I was meant for and that occupation wasn’t my purpose in life and I wanted to take time to allow for a breather for God to redirect my path and allow me to steer down the path of His choice and I felt the only way for me to allow myself to “be still and listen” was to take myself out of my comfort zone and into a place of rest and discomfort in unemployment so that I had the time and openness to allow for redirection and purpose.
All that said and done, I sit here months later as onlookers probably see my continued unemployment as complacency or undirectedness (which I kind of is– by choice) or more commonly that I’m being unrealistic in what I am waiting for and had a great job I should have never left especially when still not being clear about what I want to or should do going forward.
Have you ever been in this place in life with a situation? You made a solid decision and believed in it wholeheartedly but then as time went on and your timing didn’t match Gods timing and everyone was buzzing in your ear causing confusion, you start to second guess what God originally told you or if you even heard him clearly at all.
So here I am. Questioning my decision to have made this leap of faith.
Still unemployed. Still undirected and unclear. Still no clear view of what direction God had in mind for me.
Plenty of job options but mostly just getting back into what I left. Everyone around telling me just to go back to what I know, go back to sales, take that job that’s just ok–but not what I expected–just because it’s “better than nothing.” To essentially stop waiting for the perfect job; that shiny present of a well paying job that fulfills me and glorifies The Lord while I’m doing it.
And frankly, at this point everyone is starting to sound like they are right.
But then I have to go back to why I started.
I started out of faith.
- Faith that I was discontent in my occupation for a reason.
- Faith that God had something different for me.
- Faith that He would use me.
- Faith that He would provide.
- And faith in His timing.
And now I am not thinking or acting in faith but out of fear.
- Fear that my discontentment was normal, and just something people live with.
- Fear that God maybe wouldn’t use me in the way I imagined. (which lets be honest is a very real and ok thing)
- Fear that maybe He didn’t have something different for me.
- Fear that He wouldn’t provide.
- And fear that His timing wouldn’t match up to my needs.
Fight or flight. Do I listen to the fear around me and allow it to seep in or do I trust in the character of my God who has proven time and time again that He is faithful and He is good.
It’s those times when we don’t hear or feel God, or His timing or ways don’t match up to our vision, that is when we have to trust what we do know and that is that God is Good and His ways better.
And as always, when fearful or doubtful, go to the source of truth to put those fears to rest. The bible says,
So the bible tells us:
- We are chosen and special to God.
- God will answer us and show us great things.
- Gods plans are to give us hope and a future.
And so I gain my strong footing again, waking up and choosing faith in this journey.
(Stay tuned to next weeks blog for the current update on month 6- last week as God made His big reveal which I can’t wait to share as I’m now playing blog catch up)
At some point you will feel/be sick– so unless you plan on being the “boy in the bubble”, accept that fact in life. In the states, you can’t always prevent illness so why would it be different anywhere else. Your preventative medicines are helpful, as are common sense good health practices, but you’re gonna get “
You are also recommended malaria pills, antibiotics, sleep aid, and the coveted altitude pills. Make sure to get the Malerone Malaria pills as they have less to no side effects. Antibiotics are to help with any ahem–unwanted and uncontrolled bowel movements–aka “funny tummy” which as mentioned, will occur at some point no matter how “careful” you are. Sleep aid wasn’t needed in my case as the time in Peru is only an hour difference. And altitude meds might lessen symptoms, but I took them religiously and still suffered from symptoms– as 
Per number 1— even you guys are gonna need toilet paper at some point during your stay — if you smell what I’m stepping in. Lol. Quickly you will realize that toilet paper and toilet seats are a luxury.
In Cusco,if you have the luxury of a public bathroom consisting of four walls of and roof, you will usually find the toilet paper rolls outside the bathroom and/or outside the stalls. More often than not those will be empty and you will be sh*t out of luck literally if you didn’t bring any. On top of that, we found 8 out of 10 toilets have no seat to sit on. That makes the bathroom experience particularity interesting folks. Lastly, any excursion that you embark on will likely be in area where your bathroom is any outdoor area you that you feel comfortable relieving yourself. We found out quickly our tour guide always had a great recommendation for where we should go hide to pee. We even quicker realized they tell everyone about those same spots because when we would get to our secret spot there was always tissues and ahem….turds. Ehhhhh. Minefield to maneuver over but when you gotta go you gotta go I guess.
Sonesta Posadas del Inca In Ollantaytambo / and El Ma Pi at bottom of Macchu Picchu near train station to go up the mntn.
8- 
Don’t take pictures of or entertain the 
And of course, when in Rome……..while in Peru you must try another specialty of theirs, Guinea Pig.Served as shown here for show, they took it back and served it more practically in another 15 minutes. Like they say, it tastes like chicken—-except this one with more bones and less meat. 5 stars for experience, 3 on taste, 1 on tummy full to work ratio.
The peace of mind that came with knowing our rides/taxis were safe and fair is great. Also it helps the language barrier to have a guide with to translate if no one is fluent in Spanish. They pre-paid all the drivers and got us pre paid admissions to the mountain and some archeological tours etc which would have taken us tons of extra time etc to research and figure out. The hotels covered breakfast and lunches (yummy and filling) were included in our daily excursions as included in package so there isn’t a daily hassle to find or bring food on our own. They gave us a sheet with tons of the country’s info and important notes plus recommendations on where to find dinner locally and what not to do etc. while it was a bit tiring to have full days planned out with little down time, it maximized what we could see and experience in our limited time in Cuzco and I highly recommend it for this city. We used CAT TRAVEL and were pretty happy with our experience through them.
Christians, we call that the holy spirit in us, that still small voice, that when we listen and allow guides us towards Gods will. Non-believers, you might call that intuition, karma, street-smarts, the universe, or just sheer luck.
But he also brings to our attention that it is a roadmap to life but not to your life. It’s to be used as a reference in life as a Christian, but it’s not specific for your life. Only when it’s applied and prayed over and you listen to God does the bible become specific to your life.
A Purpose Driven Life–who also has an amazing post on this topic 
The "F" word 
