“Do you believe in fate?”- I remember being asked this question by one of my friends in college. Fate is a topic that I find pops up a lot in romantic movies, where couples believe that they are destined to be together, and we had been talking about our boyfriends and what we saw for our future with them. At the time I didn’t really give it much thought before answering, yes. I believed that things happened for a reason. But looking back on that question now, I wish I could change my answer. If I got asked that question now, I would answer that I believe God has a plan for each us, and we have the free will to choose His plan, or to choose our own. Whichever path we choose, God is walking it with us, and is trying to guide us to follow His plan for us. I think that He constantly gives us help and chances to follow His plan by putting certain people in our lives, or putting us in certain situations. Whether we choose to follow the right path is up to us, but He never gives up trying to help us come home to Him.
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| Christian and I at Homecoming…our first date! |
Christian and I met in high school. His family was military, and moved around a lot. He had never stayed at the same high school for more than a year before his family had to move again. I also come from a military family, but my dad got out when I was in 5th grade, so I was able to stay at the same elementary/middle school and high school for all 4 years. He transferred to my high school our junior year, and we had one class together that year and talked a little bit. He found out at the end of the year that he was going to be able to come back to school for senior year and his family did not have to move again. We ended up having four classes together that year, became better friends, and went to homecoming together. We have been together since :). God put Christian in my life for reason- we didn’t realize it our junior year together when we had met, but that was part of God’s plan for us. Now we have been married for four years, have 3 wonderful kids, another on the way, and of course, we have our puppy, Snowy.
Fate can also be associated with career options. A lot of other common themes in movies is that someone is destined to have a career in a specific field because that is what their parents did and grandparents did, etc. Are people really destined for a certain career path from birth? God creates each of us to be unique and have specific talents. Just like the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), whether or not we choose to use those talents is up to us. God gives us free will to make our own choices but he also gives us talents that He wants us to use to help others, and it’s up to us to choose to utilize them or not.
I have written a few posts before about trying to understand what my purpose is and what God wants me to do. I’m still trying to figure that out and understand how I can be the best version of myself and utilize those talents I was given to glorify God and meet my purpose. However, right around the time I was searching for an answer, I found out that I am going to have another baby. To me, that was God’s way of showing me that for right now, my purpose is to raise my kids, and teach them about Him. But I also think that writing is in His plan for me as well, I am still trying to figure out how.
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Christian and I at the end
of Senior year. |
I love looking back at my life and seeing how He was present at the moment without me realizing it, or how I was following the path set by Him without realizing it. A way I do this is by looking at my interests growing up. There were periods of time where I wanted to be a vet. Then I remember a long period where I wanted to be a stay at home mom, like my mom was for us (which is what I currently am doing). I had a close connection to the military and pictured myself married after college, to a man in the military. That also happened. We had talked about vocations in school, and I always felt that mine was a call to be married and have kids. There was a period in time, where I had wanted to be a journalist. And it all started with a typewriter my grandparents had at their house. Whenever we visited, my siblings and I would take turns using it, and I would write up a newspaper story, attach the weather report that my brother had typed up, and have it circled around the house. That’s where my passion for writing started that I can remember.
My older sister also was a big influence for me when it came to writing. I remember playing outside together with our friends, and there were some days we would all sit together and write creative stories. I thought she always wrote the best ones, and loved reading them whenever she wrote them. She was a part of our literary magazine in high school, which I had joined after her.
I had taken a journalism class in high school, and even had written my big research paper sophomore year on what it was like to be a journalist for the news. Then somewhere along the road, I lost interest. I went into college not really knowing what I wanted to major in, and ended up taking some Kinesiology classes and really enjoyed them. I majored in Kinesiology with a concentration in Health Sciences with the intention of becoming a physical therapist assistant. However, with my husband’s military career and not really knowing where we would be moving after college, it was difficult to plan where to apply for school (I would need an additional degree), and it would also mean more loans we have to pay back. In the end, it worked out for us because we found out we were expecting our first child a few months after getting married, and ended up moving again for Christian’s military training. I really enjoyed my internships I did at physical therapy clinics and especially enjoyed my time working with a chiropractor as well. I still don’t know how my background in health sciences will come to play in my future, but I would like to apply them somehow.
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| My first day working at Preschool! |
I also really enjoyed my time working as a preschool teacher’s assistant and would love to get involved with teaching again. I just don’t know when or how it will come to be yet. I do believe that God had wanted me to be working at that position during that time because it allowed me to meet some people that helped me grow in faith and get closer to Him.
I picked up interest in writing again this year, after seeing an advertisement for a workshop on how to start your own blog. It was never really anything that had crossed my mind before, but suddenly it sounded like a neat idea and I was also hoping it could potentially turn into a work from home position for me to help our family financially as well. Throughout these past months though, I have realized how much I enjoy it and it has become a fun hobby for me. It requires me to think about different topics, and also allows me discuss my faith and hopefully helps others with theirs too. It is definitely scary for me to publish my ideas and thoughts and to become vulnerable. I am an introvert and am not one to really put my thoughts out there. I hope that by publishing these posts I am helping at least one person, or inspiring them to talk about their faith more with others. I have become more involved in social media since starting this blog, and as a result I have found so many inspiring Catholic people to follow that have also taught me a lot about my faith too.
I still hope that writing could become a career instead of just a hobby, but I know that God has a plan for me, and I am trying to be open to whatever that is. I hope that I can use all of my talents he blessed me with. I tuned into the live rosary this morning at @manyhailmarysatatime and the guest speaker today was Father Benjamin Lehnertz. After the Rosary he discussed vocations and said some things that stuck with me. He said that “God knows what is going to make us happiest” and that “vocations” or “God’s will” “require(s) us to try them and not just play with an idea.”
I hope that everyone has been doing well this week. It has been a very stressful and emotional time for so many people. Everyone is in my prayers right now.
The kids and I leave tomorrow to go visit my family for a few weeks, so I may not be posting much these upcoming weeks. It will be nice to see my family in person again! I hope you all stay safe and healthy!
What has been God’s plan for you? Looking back on your life do you feel like there were some moments where God was showing you His plan that you did not realize at the time?
~Michelle
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