Exploring With Jesus – Sharing God’s Love with the World
Being a Christian, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit and walking closer to God is the most rewarding decision I have ever made. It has changed my life in a way that is difficult to put into words and helped me heal hurts that I never thought could be healed. I am so thankful to be able to say “I am a child of the Most High God, saved through the blood of Jesus Christ.”. After eight beautiful, but refining, years of walking with Jesus, God has called me higher to share His love and light through my travels around the world, and to share Godly wisdom and Bible-based blogs with you, as we explore the purpose He has for us as His children.
Losing Purpose
In school, I was a high achiever. I worked really hard to make sure my grades were always the best they could be. I had high hopes of being just as successful and driven when I grew up, as a career focused, independent woman. The only job I ever wanted to do was to be a scientist. I wanted to help cure cancer or find evidence to put criminals away. As most teenagers do, I thought I knew best and I thought I knew where my life was headed, but reality didn’t line up with what I had in mind.
Fast forward to graduating university with honours in genetics, I started work in a real lab. I quickly found out that being a scientist isn’t the exciting, high paced job I saw on TV. It was really boring. The machines did all the fun stuff and the most fun I had was tidying up my work space. I felt disappointed and stuck. I knew I couldn’t force myself to do that day in, day out for the rest of my life.
My Graduation
I went home and spoke to my husband about how I was feeling, and together, we both agreed that I should have a job that I love, not one that I dread going to everyday. Thankfully, God provides enough financially through my husband’s income, that I was able to step away from that job, to try find what I was actually meant to do.
It was really hard for me to accept that the life I had dreamed up for myself for all those years didn’t come true. If you had told teenage me that one day I would be a stay-at-home wife, who quit her job and didn’t know at all what to do next, I would have cried from laughter, but that was my reality.
A Blessing in the Mess
All of this happened just after my husband and I made the move from our home country of South Africa to the UK, and also, smack-bang in the middle of the pandemic. Lots of change happened in our lives, all at once, and it was really overwhelming to deal with. Looking back though, this time of being refined in the fire, was one of the biggest blessings of our lives. We had no choice but to trust God completely to be our strength and our provider, to be our comfort and support. Our marriage also became much stronger, because we knew we only had each other and God to lean on.
This time of reflection led to a huge amount of self-love, acceptance and personal growth for me, because I had to attach my worth and value to something other than just my life achievements. The time away from work and studying gave me the chance to understand that, as people, we generally tie who we are with what we do. One of the first things people ask when you meet them is what you do for a living. We need to understand that we are more than just our jobs, we hold value in just being us. We were created by The One who made the stars, the mountains and the oceans. Our worth, as human-beings, is much more than the worth any job title or achievement could ever have.
Finding love, acceptance and personal growth in my waiting season
My Season of Waiting
After a good while of self-reflection and thinking what to try next, I settled on the idea of running my own business helping people organise and declutter their homes. I had noticed this seemed to have blown up in the USA, with shows like The Home Edit and Marie Kondo, and the concept was making traction in the UK too. I spoke to many other UK-based declutterers who were all doing well in their businesses, so I opened Restored Home Organising, expecting the business to do really well.
What I didn’t know at the time, was that God had me in a waiting season. Everything I tried to do to get clients for my business wasn’t working. I nearly gave up, but then I heard God say, “Serve others while you wait.”, so that’s what I did. I signed up to two charity organisations and volunteered my time to assist them with day-to-day admin and anything else they needed help with. I focused on being the best wife, daughter and friend that I could be and started getting my mind off of myself. I started focusing on how I could be a blessing to others in any way I could. God used this time to really grow humility in me.
Since then, my client base has slowly grown and God has been faithful in providing what I need, but I still don’t feel fully in my purpose and feel like there is something more for me in God’s plan.
Having a Purpose in Life
I know, as believers, our one true purpose is to share the love of Christ with the world. I also know that, as a wife, I am called to love and respect my husband and be his pillar of support and encouragement. I know that as a daughter, sister and friend, my purpose is to love, encourage and help where I can. God has transformed me into a kind, gentle and supportive person and I am so grateful that He is changing me every day to become more like Him.
I am unbelievably blessed by the hand of God in my life and I count my blessings every day, but there is an area of my life that hasn’t blossomed in the way that I was hoping for. When I think of my career path and what I’ve not been able to achieve, I sometimes feel insecure, lost and really sad. Sometimes, I feel so far behind in life because I’m still struggling to find what I’m meant to be doing at the age of thirty-two.
Step Out and Try a New Thing
One day, I was thinking about why I feel like God has more for me than just my decluttering business, when I felt God speaking to me. He reminded me that my true purpose is to share His love in this dark world. I felt Him calling me to take a new direction and step out to do a new thing.
I’ve always had a passion for travel and exploring new places, and have been blessed to have travelled to some incredible destinations with my husband, but never really understood the connection between travelling for fun and sharing the love of Jesus with the world. God showed me Mark 16:15, which says, “Go everywhere in the world and tell the good news to everyone.”. I knew that day that God wanted me to travel with much more than just a detailed itinerary, He wanted me to use travel as a way to share His love and light with the world. That’s where the idea of this blog, Exploring with Jesus, all started.
I welcome you to follow along on my blog and share the journey as I follow God’s call of travelling around the world, sharing His love with whoever I meet and inspiring you to explore more of this amazing planet that God created for us. I hope and pray that together we can lead more people to the wonderful, never-ending love of our Lord and, achieve the true purpose God has for our lives as His children. Whether you're looking for inspiration for your next Christian vacation or encouragement to help you along your walk with Jesus, this is a welcoming space for you to slow down and have some down time, just for you.
