Where My Faith and Heart Journey Began

A Trip to the Irish Coast

Five years ago, I went to Ireland for my birthday.

While the trip was a celebration of stepping into a new season of life, it would be best described as the journey of a girl trying to find her footing in the world.

I was entering my 20s without a clue. I had no plan, no vision of what was next. I just knew I wanted more. I wanted more than the world told me I could have.

With no degree, many insinuated I’d never amount to much, and I was grappling with the idea that maybe they were right. Maybe my opportunity for a fulfilling life had already slipped away.

I was struggling to find a meaningful way forward.

As I navigated the streets of Dublin those first few days, I was hoping to discover inner clarity about my life and purpose. Within minutes of leaving the hotel on my birthday, I was pooped on by a pigeon. Definitely not the answer to my soul’s questioning I was longing for.

With glimmering hope fading away by the day, I was met with the gift that is County Clare. It was everything I’d imagined Ireland to be. The rolling emerald hills, crystal waters, and jagged cliffs were unlike anything I’d experienced.

There was a moment I found myself alone, standing by a cliff’s edge on the coast. Wind whipped my hair while the deep blue waters calmed my soul. I found myself praying about life, what I was supposed to do, and who I was supposed to be (and keeping a watchful eye out for birds).

No voice audibly boomed from the sky to answer, but the whispering wind washed over me with the comforting words, “Everything will be ok.”

No Other Choice

When I returned home, I found out my beloved childhood dog had passed away the same day as my cliffside revelation. And while I’d been out of the country, my boss at a job I faithfully poured into decided to demote me and implement a pay cut.

The wind was knocked out of me. I couldn’t connect what I’d heard on the Irish coast with what I was experiencing at that moment.

But it gave me no other option.

I had to choose faith and heart. I needed to trust Him completely and follow His guidance one step at a time. I couldn’t rely on my strength or qualifications to open doors, and I didn’t need to. When He asked me to move forward, a way always opened up.

“Keep choosing faith and heart in a world driven by sight and success. God will always show up, faithfully guiding you to more than you could imagine.”

While not everything made sense at the time, I can testify five years later that He has always remained faithful. Choosing faith and heart will be condemned as a risk by the world, but it’s the most secure path because God never lets us fall.

I don’t know where you feel stuck or what truth you’re searching for today, but I want to leave you with the comfort of knowing that everything will be ok.

Keep choosing faith and heart in a world driven by sight and success. God will always show up, faithfully guiding you to more than you could imagine.