My first job out of college was as a newspaper reporter.

Life was filled with transitions at the time. Seth and I had just gotten engaged. I had just moved to Ohio. I missed living on campus with my friends. But I was ready for my first real job. 

Or so I thought.

The job wasn’t what I expected. But my worst reporting experience happened on my second day. My editor sent me to the local Walmart parking lot to poll people about their thoughts on Donald Trump, our newly inaugurated president.

This was not a good assignment—for many reasons. I was instructed to only come back once I had at least four or five strong quotes and headshots, enough to make a good feature in the next day’s paper.

So there I was, standing in the Walmart parking lot on a freezing January morning, wearing dress shoes and holding a bulky camera I hardly knew how to use. I tried to ask people how they felt about our new president, but I rarely got to that question. Typically our conversation ended with, “Excuse me, can I ask you a quick question?” 

“No.”

If they did say yes, our conversation didn’t last much longer. Things were not going well. Tears of frustration gathered in the corners of my eyes, but I willed myself to keep pushing forward. I could do this. 

My breaking point came when I walked up to two couples, right in a row, and they pretended I wasn’t even there. Discouragement welled in my soul like a flooding river. This assignment was impossible.

I was set up for failure.

The dam broke, and the tears that had been welling in the corners of my eyes fell freely. I walked back to my car, locked the doors, and sobbed. I didn’t know what to do.

Eventually, I went back to work. I gave my editor the few sparse quotes I’d gathered, and explained that a Walmart parking lot might not be the best place to poll people. He seemed to understand.

But I still felt incredibly discouraged.

What was going on? I’d believed God was leading me into something new and exciting. I had high hopes for life after college. But this couldn’t be right. I had to have messed up at some point along the way. This wasn’t how life was supposed to look.

It’s easy to feel discouraged when things don’t turn out the way we expect.

But the truth is, things aren’t always going to turn out the way we expect.

I love God’s words to us in Isaiah 42:16: “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”

In so many ways, we are blind. We don’t know what’s coming next. We’re relying on God to show us the way—but we also like to know what we’re getting ourselves into. 

But God tells us we’re going to walk along some unfamiliar paths. We’re not going to know or expect every road He brings us to. And that’s okay, because we’ll always have Him as our guide. Our Savior is turning the darkness into the light and making the rough places smooth. He’s promised He will never forsake us. We don’t have to be discouraged, but can instead be encouraged by the boldness of His love for us and the strength of His promise.

Maybe right now, you’re walking along an unfamiliar path. You might not be crying in a Walmart parking lot, but discouragement can come in a lot of forms. It’s not a good feeling. Discouragement can steal joy and hope.

But there’s blessing in the unfamiliar path, because God is there.

God is present and He is our guide. Only on the unfamiliar path can we come to fully rely on His power to light up what was once in darkness. 

God had me working as a reporter for a season of my life, but it was an important season. I learned a lot about trusting Him and finding joy beyond my circumstances. And then, He surprised me with another unfamiliar path. Now I’m teaching kindergarten. That was never what I pictured for my life. But God is here and it is so good.

True encouragement, the kind that gives us the confidence and boldness to pursue a passion-filled life, doesn’t come from the things we do or the things we have. True encouragement comes from knowing Jesus is our guide, no matter what we’re doing or where we are.

I’m not saying we’ll never feel discouraged. But when God is our source of encouragement, those feelings of discouragement will seem a lot more temporary.

And never forget… you are onederfully created by that same God of encouragement.

Love,
Becca