Jan 9, 20224 min read

Start a Winding Journey

Updated: Feb 13, 2022

Take a road less traveled

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view - Edward Abbey

Happy New Year! A new year is a new beginning for a new milestone. A new year is a year to take action and reach to new heights.

In 2021, we finished series of Find Your Signature Vision, we learned to recognize your signature gift by looking inside and knowing yourself, understand how you are wonderfully made, respond to the divine call, listen to his whispers for a full blossom and proactively seek your calling from God. At the end, a path is designed according who you are, what you own and what you can offer to others. If you have not found your signature vision yet, you can follow the path designed and use find your signature vision questionnaires FREE document to find your unique talent, strength and signature vision.

Once you find your vision, it’s time to go for your vision. This is the perfect time to start in the beginning of 2022. Theoretically, you can draw a line between where you are right now and your dreamed destination. But the road to your destination is usually not straight but winding. It’s not smooth but bumpy. Many times, the journey to our fullness is risky, yet its reward is usually much more than the cost we pay. After a journey full of storms, adversaries, obstacles, and suffering, we build a strong character so we can reap the harvest of life in the end. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9)

One day, a man found a cocoon near his front door. Curious, he took it into his room and put it in a little basket. Soon the moth began to break through. After it made a small hole, it got stuck and was unable to free itself further. The man felt pity and decided to help. He cut a bigger hole in the cocoon. The moth did emerge, but with a bloated, unwieldy body with withered and ineffectual wings. The man felt worried and perplexed. He asked a friend who knew about biology, “What happened?” His friend explained that in trying to help the moth, the man foreshortened the process required to create a viable insect. The effort it took to break out would have forced the liquid out of a cocoon’s body and pushed it into its wings and enabled the moth to fly.

Similarly, the barriers we come across, the difficulties we go through and problems we tackle enable us to grow stronger and become braver. That’s what God intends us to be. The process from cocoon to butterfly is not easy. God designed it this way so that a cocoon can be fully transformed into a butterfly. The challenges we experience also help us live out life’s beauty, value, and fullness. The pain, suffering, and toil are imperative—the perfect ingredients for making a tasty dish out of life. Without them, the dish is plain, boring, and average. This is the simple law behind any form of prosperity. Life may not be fair or smooth, but if we keep doing whatever is right in the eyes of the LORD, the end will always be awesome.

On our journey in life, there are times we travel on a smooth road full of pleasant moments; times we get lost and confused; times that we have to detour and ask for help and get guidance from people we do not know; times we feel locked out, rejected, and frustrated; times we want to give up, and times we have no hope or energy to move on. But please hold on. There is a good reason for these times. The applause is ahead waiting for us—the fabulous scenery is in front and there is deep insight to draw from the journey.

The winding and bumpy journey is uniquely designed for each individual. It perfectly fits each one’s unique purpose that God conceived. Each of us aims to create a divine picture. All pieces form a mosaic where one enhances another and makes the whole picture beautiful and attractive.

My life journey is very winding, chart above. But it’s very rewarding. Without these ups and downs, I will not be where I am now; I would not write this book and the article. You can see that my dreams were not fulfilled in the right order. I got the dream to become an author while I was in high school. But it delayed many years.

Every challenge builds our faith so we can transcend our problems and win the battle in the end. During the process, we will be transformed to a God-centered life from a self-centered life. During the process, we have to take off the “I-glasses” and put on our “God-glasses” through which to see people, things, and the world. We have to be in His perspective instead of our own perspectives.

When we see the world through a different lens, we can recognize our blind spots and be more sensitive to the needs of others. We are not losing ourselves. Instead, we are inventing a new self and a life filled with excitement.

One of the best writers of the 19th century, Oliver Wendell Holmes, has said, “The biggest tragedy in America is not the great waste of natural resources—though this is tragic; the biggest tragedy is the waste of human resources because the average person goes to his grave with his music still in him.” Do not wait until tragedy happens in your life to respond to His calling. Grow to your fullness! The journey to reach our fullness starts now.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view - Edward Abbey

If you want to have a group of people to support so you can share your roadmap, goals, celebrate your wins together; please join Grow to Your Fullest Circle.

*** Please DOWLOAD the FREE document, Find your signature vision questionnaires so you use it to help you find your life vision and mission.