Career dilemma...

A few days ago I posted on the blog that I was in desperate need of some inspiration. And I was. Bad. I wanted to know if any fellow blog readers or blog stalkers had questions, comments, or topics they wanted for me to touch on. Yesterday, a friend of mine wrote me on Facebook and asked the question "What is a Godly way to choose which career is right for you other than prayer?" I'm in no ways an education guru or an expert on these sorts of things, so I will try my best to give an answer to the best of my ability. :) Oh-and thanks Ashely for your question!


In kindergarten, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was a) a tree b) a teacher. The tree thing didn't work out so well. But the being a teacher thing, that was a career choice I have always wanted to achieve, and till this day I'm on the road to hopefully becoming one. With as least debt as possible. Which, in reality, is as impossible as being a tree. But, nevertheless, for some it's difficult to choose careers when there are pools of various to choose from. And unlike questions regarding  marriage, salvation, divorce, money, the scripture does not give us a specific response or answer about what part of education we should study or focus on. Nevertheless, the Lord calls us as believers to be wise when making decisions--either big or small--and that everything we do we should do it as unto the Lord. So, when trying to choose a career that fits us best I've decided to list some tips one can use that can help to decide what career is best.

*Going back to my friends's question, while prayer is very important when making choices such as this one, we have to also be aware of the fact that God gave us humans free will. It's pretty amazing that we have the liberty to make our own choices, of course if they coincide with scripture. So when choosing a career, remember that we are free to choose whatever we want as long as it doesn't go against the laws of Scripture.

• Know your interests and what your good at: Find out what you like and what you don't like.*and side note: everyone is good at something.  For instance, if you're good at making art and love doing it, choose a career that will involve exercising that skill. You want to be able to enjoy whatever it is your investing your time and money on. If you plan on going to school for a specific career, take it from a college student like me. School is not cheap, so choose a major or a field of study that will reflect your talents and one that will be worth investing money in. 
• Narrow down your options: Try having a specific number of profession options you could see yourself doing and would love to do. Having to choose from 10 can get overwhelming. Narrow down perhaps your top 3 choices and go from there. That way you have a sold foundation to which you can start doing your research.  
• List pros and cons: After narrowing down your options, list pros and cons on each profession. Some of the questions you should ask are: How much money does this career pay? How many years will this career take to study? Can I see myself working in this field for a long time? 
• Research, research, research:  It is very important to do research when trying to choosing a career. Look up information online regarding any questions you have regarding that career, or, I've found that talking to individuals who are already practicing the career that I want to do has helped me gain insight on so many things. One of my good friends is a teacher so asking her questions regarding how teaching jobs are doing in the job market and the pay has helped me. Don't be afraid to ask questions and seek council.

I hope this helped some of you. However, by looking at this long post, I hope I didn't confuse you guys more. Or got you guys bored. 

I'll end with a quote I heard one of my favorite photographers, Jasmine Star, say: "I would rather fail at something I love, than succeed at something I hate." If you're in the process of choosing careers, choose something you love doing and something your not afraid to fail at. Because the most successful people are the ones that fail and get right back up. If you want to be musician, a missionary, teacher, photographer, lawyer, sea world whale trainer, do it!! Do-yo-thang. If you wish to make good money, choose a career that will do that, but remember to not place your hope on the material things but on the heavenly things. And remember that, weather you choose to be a surgeon, a mechanic or a tree, do it as unto the Lord. It is he that gives us the knowledge, the talents, and the freedom to accomplish many things.