What are you doing RIGHT NOW?

I am currently working on getting a coaching license through a ministry owned and operated by my best friend’s mom. This ministry is beautiful. The opportunity to receive training in this capacity with people I love and support is remarkable all on its own. During the course of this program, they facilitate personality quizzes. Not the stuff you look up online, but real, fact based, data driven quizzes. Through these assessments, they developed a curriculum. The curriculum is extremely hands on. The section I am working on currently, had some soul searching, passion driven questions that reignited a desire in my heart. I have talked about this dream many times over the years but always seem to get discouraged and distracted by “real life.” Upon answering these questions, a new sense of excitement struck my heart. Maybe it just hasn’t been time to pursue this passion. Now it’s time. I am not looking at the “next step,” I am looking at the NOW. 

Destined2B has been a theme in my desires since I graduated high school. I have sat down with many different friends in different seasons of my life and discussed what this means to me. Each time, it changed just a bit based on the season of life I was currently in. Although I know the seasons will still change, I am at a constant state now. I have thought through the variations of my desires and found the common factors and want to make that my basis. There are many things I aspire to be and do that I have no idea what they will look like or even should look like, however, when it comes to Destined2B, I am confident. I am at peace. Let me share my heart with you! 

Destined2B originated from the thought, “What am I Destined to Be?” Simple at first but then I became obsessed with meanings and words. ‘To Be’ is a form of ‘I Am.” If you look up ‘I am,’ it will give you an example that says, ‘to be.’ I was floored by this. Jesus is I AM. That is one of His names in the scriptures. Simply, I AM. In this life, I, Brittany, am to be like Christ. Every day I am to pursue His likeness in ALL that I do. Worship in all that I do and all that I AM! Anyone else blown away yet? So I continued to just dwell and meditate on this idea of becoming. We are Destined to Be…(insert title, occupation, name, description here), but more than anything else, we are simply to be. That can mean so many things. I know it’s vague. But sometimes we dwell so much on our title, label, character or even our roles in our family and homes that we miss the point of just BEING.  

Initially I had this broken down into four categories within two main ideas. The main ideas were missions and discipleship. The categories: teacher, givers, prayer warriors/encouragers, doers. I obviously know now there are SO many more categories than that. I believed most people would fall into one of those categories if not all of them. What I wanted to do with that was help people identify which place they were comfortable with and build on that. Give them the tools to grow in that area. The coolest part though, I wanted to start with KIDS. I wanted to implement this in children's churches and schools. For churches it would be learning missions and discipleship and in the schools I would adapt the principles under the ideas of leadership and service. Same exact thing, just aware of the disconnect of religious terms within the school system. 

When developing this vision, I would envision doing assemblies at schools. Not just one assembly, but a month-long process or so. Bringing in kids by their grade level and talking about leadership and serving. I would begin by discussing what those ideas could mean and let the kids define it themselves. As the discussion went on, we could discuss different roles. Teachers, givers, prayer warriors/encouragers, and doers. Every person has a role in leadership and service. Let the kids define the roles. Help them mold thoughts into concrete ideas. How could EVERY person have a job in leading and serving? What gave me this idea was one of my first grade classes. I was doing an activity for Martin Luther King Jr Day. It was a cute little craft called “I have a dream.” They were given three prompts: My dream for myself, my dream for my community, my dream for the world. Let me just tell you, I was humbled beyond measure by the responses I got. One student said that her dream for the world would be to have a library in a cart that could go to the places where they don’t have books so all kids could read like her. Another student said that his dream for himself was to become a plumber so he could give water to all the kids in the world who don’t have water at home. Then another student said her dream for her community is to have a garden that makes the town beautiful and provides healthy food for the sick people and people who don’t have money. So stinking pure and innocent. My thought on this is, why not get the dreams of these kids, connect with ministries, companies, churches and people who have the assets and finances, and make it happen. Show the kids that their dreams ARE doable. That their desire for the world and community CAN happen. 

I want to take these innocent, pure, absolutely wonderful desires and dreams of kids to change the world, and make them happen. I believe adults want things like this too but we are too ‘adulty’ about it. We nitpick. Find the issues and decide it isn’t worth it. But there is something about making it happen to spark hope in a child. So, after a couple assemblies, I would give out workbooks and “task lists” to the students to do in their class and at home. Then, each class or grade level would be assigned a project. Using the ideas from my first graders as an example, it would look like this. One class would think of a name for a traveling library, collect books that they love, and pick a place in the world they want to send those books. Then the teacher would give the details to me and I would connect the idea with the proper financial aid through a business or ministry. I would contact a multilingual organization that could assist in translating the books into the desired language for the area the children chose. I would remain in contact with the class and teacher as the books were sent. I would do my best to receive pictures and updates on how many children have had access to these books. Inspire. Spread hope. That is just one example. There are endless possibilities. 

What’s crazy, my vision doesn’t stop there. Along with encouraging kids and connecting them, this would be a time where I would help kids see what motivates them.When talking about ‘roles’ I don’t want to create another label for the kids but help them see what motivates them to each category. But this is where I would also engage with young adults. The coaching program I am about to complete navigates strictly around motivations, NOT TALENTS AND LABELS. I love it. I genuinely believe that in teaching the ideas I listed above regarding missions and discipleship needs to start with motivations. Yes kids will change as they grow and experience life and so will their motivators BUT by instilling the thought processes and ideals of motivators at a young age, as they grow and change, they will be equipped to adapt. I am in my 30’s and some of my motivators have changed just within the past year. Different seasons bring different motivations. However, when encouraged and coached to dig deeper, we become aware of our BIG WHY. It is consistent to who we are in the Father. That is what I want to do. Point people to the Father, the creator, by discovering who they are. Then connect and encourage. I want this so badly it hurts. 

I know there are a lot of gaps in what I am saying. Some pieces of this are vague and maybe even a little scattered. I intentionally didn’t share all the details I already have. All the plans and ideas and concepts were left abbreviated because someday, I hope to share all of this with people. Maybe one on one, maybe in a seminar, or maybe in a group setting of some kind. So, rather than saying what my next step will be, I am choosing to say that RIGHT NOW I am starting by writing this post. Putting it on paper and getting it out there. Making myself available for the questions and opportunities. Something else I am doing right now to reach this goal is completing this program and becoming a certified life coach and possibly taking another opportunity to gain more knowledge and wisdom in this field.When I complete my certification, I will begin utilizing what I have learned and continue this dream. Right now, I am going to get my thoughts and ideas on paper and start letting the Father guide and direct my ideas. I am praying for and expecting opportunities. It starts now. Today I am finally saying yes to what I am Destined 2 Be.