What Next
Just about every afternoon, Brandon and I sit together on the front porch to drink our afternoon coffee. Lately we have been recounting different pieces of our story, thinking back as far as we can and connecting the dots that have led us to where we are today. We have realized there have been several different books we read along the way, and each one of those books in some way had an impact on us at the time, as well as what we did next.
Our story cannot be told without the book Jesus: Career Counselor. I bought this book for Brandon for our twelfth wedding anniversary in January 2013. At that time, I was a stay-at-home mom to our kids who were 11, 9, and 7 years old and we just had our fourth child six months earlier. Brandon was a school district superintendent. While I was busy getting the kids out the door in the morning, having lunch with them once per week, making after-school snacks, keeping up with the house, taking care of our newborn, Brandon’s day looked much different. Once he left home in the morning, we typically wouldn’t see him again until the kids’ bedtime or even later. He was in the midst of running the school district and was in the middle of an upcoming bond election. He was gone almost every evening at an event, function, or meeting. When he was home, whether at night or on the weekends, he was constantly on call and was always checking and answering texts and emails. There was a time he was very passionate about the things he was doing, but by January 2013, he was overweight, over-scheduled, tired, and was looking for a way out.
For a lifelong career superintendent, “a way out” typically means changing to another school district. But Brandon knew this was not the kind of work he could sustain, this was not the schedule he was going to keep, this was not the life he was going to live. I was giving him my full support, but support to do what? To change how?
We tried to figure it out. I wish we could go back and see our Google searches at that time. There’s not much use to googling when you want to know what is my calling in life?
In January 2013, I was in the Christian bookstore in our mall to buy an anniversary gift for Brandon. I was looking for something, anything that I thought could help. And there it was, Jesus: Career Counselor. I thought, who better to guide our next steps?
That January, Brandon and I replaced our usual nightly conversations of fear and doubt and instead started reading the book together before falling asleep. For the first time in our lives, we were talking about God’s plans rather than just promotions, we were talking about our God-given talents rather than our resumes, and we were talking about how to spend our time not just how to make money. For the first time in our lives, we wrote out our personal mission, vision, and calling. We answered questions like, “Am I everything my Father wants me to become?” and “Is my Father pleased with the work I am doing?” and “Are you actively releasing your gifts into the world?" Until then, we did not talk about our careers and livelihood in this way. Up until that point, we were asking ourselves, what is the next job offer, the next promotion, the next salary increase?
I will never forget, as we were nearing the end of the book, when Brandon looked at me and said out loud, “I don’t want to be a superintendent anymore.” While the Lord had called him to this work at one time, that time had passed and we knew we were being called to do something else.
That something else took us away from the superintendency and away from working in school districts. We didn’t have it all figured out, but we knew we wanted more time to focus on our family and we wanted to continue searching our hearts for what God was calling us to do in this world. Looking back now, it took another seven years for our journey to lead us to where we are today. Whether we realized it or not, those same questions have been guiding our steps all along the way: “Am I everything my Father wants me to become?” and “Is my Father pleased with the work I am doing?” and “Are you actively releasing your gifts into this world?” We realize now that by changing our questions, we were changing the answers we would receive.
While we were reading that book back in 2013, Brandon and I both were taking notes as we responded to the questions throughout the book. Brandon’s responses were typically about spending time with family, and using his talents to create, inspire, and innovate. He wanted to be healthier, happier, and to be more in control of his time. My responses centered around helping others by sharing and making connections. A common theme was around me wanting to be a professional speaker as a way to support our family. We obviously had no way of seeing into our futures, but we see a clear connection between what we were thinking then and the things we are doing now. We have more time than ever to focus on our family. Our work as bloggers and professional life coaches is more closely aligned to our gifts and our goals than anything we have ever done in the past. And while we have not yet been hired for our first speaking engagement, I know in my heart, that will be next.
I am so grateful for the whisper I heard in that Christian bookstore so many years ago. I am so grateful Brandon trusted me to go on that spiritual journey together of asking ourselves, and fervently asking God, “what’s next?” And I am so grateful for Jesus, our career counselor.
