We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

For the last year I have been on a health journey. I was not happy with my physical and mental health and FINALLY got to the point that I said “enough is enough.” I was ready to make a change. In fact, I made a lot of changes. I can’t wait to tell you about some of them and how both my physical and mental health have improved over the last year! Now, I know my journey won’t look the same as the one you are on. You may not even be on your journey yet but I hope to encourage you to do some self exploration and determine what you want and where you want to go. What do you think your journey will look like?

Regardless of your age, you are on some type of journey. As kids we are on a journey to learn our surroundings, how to maneuver through the days, find friends and basically how to get along in this world. As you get older, your journey becomes more individualized. You learn how to cope and make plans for your future. Some people may plan day to day while others plan their entire lives, or so it seems. Rarely will you find a person who starts with a plan and finishes exactly how they actually planned it from the beginning. Your journey is fluid. There are so many outside influences that impact each person’s journey that can completely change the course.

I personally used to be a planner. I planned everything. I got this habit from my mother who could make plans down to the hour from things like vacations to having guests come to stay at our house. I made plans to go to college and become a nurse from a young age. I worked hard and went to the college I planned on going to. The same year I finished nursing school, Julian and I bought our first home, started new jobs and got married. I had it all planned out to that point.

After that, my plans stopped. I didn’t have anything further I wanted to achieve, except starting a family. Don’t worry, that didn’t last long. After about 1 year of bedside nursing, I had a vision (now I think back and realize that it was God telling me my next step). I remember it clearly…. I was walking through the hall of the hospital and I thought “I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.” Within 2 weeks I had applied to graduate classes and on came the next journey for the next 4 years of my life. During this time, my plans for starting a family were put on hold, at no fault of our own. We just could not get pregnant. It took 2.5 years to get pregnant. During this time, I became very depressed. For the first time in my life, my plans were out of my control and were not happening as I planned.

We really don’t have the control

We can plan all we want, but it has become evident that there is a divine intervention that supersedes our personal plans. I believe I was meant to become a nurse and then continue in my education to become a nurse practitioner. I worked in a lower income area and helped countless families with their childcare and child health over the last 15 years. When I was sure I didn’t want to continue my education after a difficult nursing school adventure, God told me otherwise. I had a job to do for Him and He made it happen. God made a way for me to get admitted to graduate school even when my admissions counselor told me my application and credentials were not good enough. (Yes she actually told me that!) I happened to graduate with a 3.8 and became a wonderful provider (in my personal opinion!)

Well, during the last year of my graduate schooling, we finally got pregnant. I absolutely LOVED being pregnant and becoming a Mom. It certainly didn’t happen on my plan or timing but as time went on, I saw that MY timing was not in my best interest. While everyone around me was getting pregnant and starting their families, Julian and I were not ready. We had a lot to learn about our relationship and areas needing to grow before we were ready. We didn’t see this but God knew.

My Health Journey

Now I mentioned my health journey earlier. This month is my Health’aversary! (Get ready Webster, this is going to be a new word before I am done!) I decided 1 year ago October that I was going to put my health back as a priority. I found scripture to support my desire, to use my body as a temple to praise God and to utilize my body to do His Will here on Earth. It has been a long year but I have felt better physically and emotionally than I have in almost all of my adult life. He put Godly people in my path to encourage me and introduce an easy health program that pushed me in the right direction. We got better health insurance with Julian’s job and I was able to work on medical ailments I had been putting off. I changed my journey and worked on myself and in return, my family is happier, we are all a little healthier and our family unit is growing in faith and prosperity!

You see, ultimately, we are not the planners we think we are. We can plan our lives down to the hour like my mom used to do but by doing so, we cause ourselves more anxiety and feelings of helplessness when life does not follow our plans. There are countless outside influences that get in our way or even completely railroad our plans.

I encourage you to always dream for your future and even make your plans but remember God has control. Gods ultimate plan will take precedence. When you ask for his plan to prevail, when you truly open yourself to His Will. You will not be angry or completely knocked down when your dreams do not come as you tirelessly planned. My years of depression would not have stalled my own dreams when I could not get pregnant. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have understood that my growth that happened during those 2.5 years was WORTH THE WAIT! My baby girl was absolutely worth the wait and the path my life took was worth following God because I never dreamed I would have had the pleasure of helping so many families, obtaining a beautiful home and making some of the most amazing friends. Even my marriage would have not made it to this point.

Don’t give up

Your journey will look nothing like mine. Your purpose is different and you have been blessed with knowledge and skills that I have not. I pray that you dream big but understand that when you open those dreams to the Will of God, they will grow even bigger.

What does your journey look like? I hope you can enjoy the ride!

Finally, I encourage you to write down your dreams. Keep track of your plans and watch how they come and go and evolve over time. I recently found an awesome planner/journal/goal keeper that is awesome and I totally recommend!

Please share your journey stories in the comments. Lets share God’s Glory and see who else we can positively influence!