It’s been about a year since I left a regular, forty -hour a
week job that provided delightful and practical benefits such as retirement,
insurance, and paid holidays to begin counseling at a private practice as my
primary job. I had already been with Crossroads Counseling for a while and had
been planning on making the change, but it was still a big decision and a huge
risk. I knew that it could potentially be a huge disaster, but I also knew that
God had opened up a million doors for me to walk through and I felt sure of
what He had told me to do. And so I took what is certainly my biggest risk yet
and left the safe job that made me feel drained for the risky job that makes me feel
alive.
In the last
year I’ve developed a term of endearment for self-employment—I like to refer to
it as “Living on the Edge”. Anyone
who is self-employed or who has a self-employed spouse knows exactly what I
mean. I don’t know when I’ve ever
been so excited for a change, but I knew things wouldn’t be easy all the time
so I tried to have realistic expectations. Even so, trying to imagine something
isn’t the same as actually experiencing it. There was a particularly difficult
season where everything seemed to go wrong. It was confusing and scary and
every emotion I felt told me to just give up because this job would obviously
never work. I started feeling crazy for thinking it would.
I had a particularly meaningful conversation with a
co-worker during that time, and he reminded me that God doesn’t play jokes on
us, doesn’t change His mind when He leads us to something, and that I could
trust I hadn’t heard Him wrong several months before. And I remembered that sometimes we have to put our trust in
what we know instead of what we feel.
So that’s what Will and I tried our best to do, and of course everything
worked out. In fact, it worked out
better than we had ever hoped. Why
did we ever get so worried?
Working in private practice at Crossroads Counseling is one
of the best decisions I have ever made. I’m so thankful for the freedom to see
clients without being bogged down with other things. I’m thankful that I can
arrange my schedule to have time to speak, to teach, and to write. I’m thankful
for the clients that I’ve come to truly know, love, and enjoy so much. And I’m especially thankful for my
Crossroads family. Everyone—my co-workers, our director, our administrative
assistants—have always fully supported me, encouraged me, and treated me as an
equal. The other day I listened as
a counselor who is much more experienced than I am referred clients to me over
the phone, and I could have cried about the kind words she used to describe me.
You just don’t find that everywhere.
Last April Mutual of Omaha contacted me about making a video
for their Aha Moment tour. I spoke
a little about making my decision to become a counselor and some of the things
that go along with that. I’ve been
waiting for a while to share it, and now seems like the right time. Do take a
moment and prepare yourself for the strength of the accent you’re about to
hear.
At the end of this video I talk a bit about purpose. We all
have natural gifts, talents, and abilities. The only thing I’ve ever been
really good at is connecting with different people and making others feel
comfortable. I never would have imagined that those things would have turned into my job,
but I am a truly certain that God will take our lives and do more with them
than we could ever ask or imagine if we will only follow Him and trust that He
has good plans for us. Just like counseling comes naturally to me, you have
something that comes naturally to you.
Maybe you’re great at decorating a house or making a delicious meal. Maybe
you’re wonderful with kids. Maybe
you’re super organized or great at budgeting. Maybe you’re an expert at making
spreadsheets, growing a beautiful garden, or writing. Whatever it is that comes
naturally to you and makes you feel alive, there is a way to find purpose and
serve others through that thing. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to
make a career or job change, but rather that you embrace the special gifts God
gave you and commit them to Him.
Who knows, maybe He will take them and do more that you ever asked or
imagined too.
Later on Mutual of Omaha will do some sort of voting
campaign with these videos and the winner will get to make a national
commercial. I am certainly not
expecting to be a national commercial star, but feel free to share this video
if you feel like doing so.
Have a good weekend friends. And let us all enjoy the brisk
92 degree weather and give thanks that it's no longer 130 degrees outside.
Whitney
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