Tomorrow, I will hit the road to embark on a new leg of this journey.  I will head up to Liberty University in Virginia for a campus intensive for the next week getting to some of the theory and processes in counseling I have studied about into practice.  It’s a huge part of this journey as I continue to learn the ins and outs of being a professional counselor.  While I’m extremely excited about this trip, the learning, and experience, I told Amber this afternoon that I’m also shaking on the inside with fear.  It’s not fear of the trip, while I hate leaving Amber and the kids to go out of town, but rather, it’s another journey into the unknown.  I look forward to it, but part of me is filled with fear as I continue to follow God’s lead.  As I’ve shared before, this is a complete life change for me and my family, so moving deeper into the unknown definitely leaves anxieties.

It’s amazing, however.  Not only is my wife so supportive and encouraging of me, but this week, I’ve received so much encouragement from people, which also fills me with with confidence.  A lot of the encouragement comes from people I’ve just met or talked to in passing usually, but this past week, I found myself engaged in deeper conversations with people at church and even at my gym in the mornings, and the encouragement about it all has been tremendous.  It fills me with greater and greater confidence that I am truly following where the Lord is leading.

I come back to a real significant truth.  Coming to a point in my life where I am completely depended on the Lord, allows me to see that trying to find significance and meaning and purpose in life in anything outside of Christ only leads to emptiness.  That’s where I was before, trying to find all my significance in life in completely self-driven aspirations.  Since, I turned all of this around, it’s been amazing and the Lord continues to amaze me each day with the people He has allowed me to encounter to and the direction He continues to lead me.

This is a short post, but I saw all of that to say this.  Everyday from here on is a new adventure.  I continue into the unknown, but I walk with the confidence of being made new and being alive in Christ.  While there is some fear of the unknown, I move forward confidently, knowing that I am now led by the Holy Spirit and each step continues to sanctify me in Christ and will help me to prayerfully lead others to find their restoration in Christ through this work.  I’ll share about the experience after I return.  Praise God for all He continues to bless us with.