As you think about all of this, keep in mind that very few of us have the luxury of abruptly changing our lives and heading off in a new direction. For most of us it’s a progressive process. Please do not decide that your real gift in life is camping, and then run off and quit your job, move your family into a nylon tent, and declare your destiny as fulfilled. If camping is truly your greatest passion, then perhaps you can keep your day job, but offer summer camp experiences for kids or adults. Or perhaps you and your family will prayerfully discern that you want out of the day-to-day corporate world, and you either build or buy a campground to run together. Of course, camping is many people’s passion, but we need to be making money in order to live comfortably. That’s why you’d need to try and make a business out of camping. If you’re thinking of running a campground, make sure to find an area with a lot of space for guests. You could also consider getting some vital tools to keep on-site too. For example, a lot of your campers will probably need a splitting axe to make firewood. This is normally a camping essential, especially on those colder nights. Campfires are perfect for evenings at a campground too, so make sure you can provide your potential campers with an axe for them to find firewood. Running a campground could be fun, especially for those with a passion for it. However, if your calling is to be an artist, then you may need to keep your day job while you produce work and arrange showings at galleries in your region. There are as many variations of dreams as there are people reading this book. The point is that you find a way to recapture what your heart longs to do and then find a way to get started on it without jeopardizing the rest of your life.
It’s also true that our destiny may not ever pay enough to be our sole source of support. But it may be enough to supplement the family income as a lucrative sideline. Or it may never pay a single dime but it makes you feel complete and it gives you an oasis from the stresses of your normal daily obligations. Not every destiny will make you materially rich. But every destiny will make you spiritually rich. I happen to be bold enough to believe that for many of us, pursuing what we are most meant to do will eventually lead to a level of income sufficient enough to sustain us. The financial outcome isn’t the point however, and that is best left to God anyway. We need to focus on what is completely within our control and let God handle the rest. Our job is to do every bit of what we can to birth our destiny, to grow it, develop it, and send it out into the world to have a positive impact. When we are faithful to that call, when we invest ourselves into creating the product or the service, God may bless us beyond our wildest dreams. But if that’s not how it turns out, we will still have created beauty, provided joy, made a difference, and changed the world for the better because we lived.
Until next time, I’ll be praying for you to strategize about how to get going in a way that works best for you and your family.