Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
[Journal Entry – Reflective]
It was a muggy summer morning that August day in 1996. I grabbed my Bible and stealthily walked through the cabin so as not to wake the campers. I opened the door and felt the humid summer heat radiating from the ground and air even though the sun barely peeked over the horizon at 6:00 a.m. As camp counselors, we were instructed to read our Bibles, pray, and spiritually meditate before waking the young campers in our room. I sat down with my back pressed against the sticky brick like I always did each morning for the last three months. This was my last week as a camp counselor, and I didn’t want it to end, but it was time for me to return to college.
As I read my Bible, I audibly heard the voice of the Lord tell me to change my college major from psychology to medical speech-language pathology. I thought someone was speaking to me from around the corner because the voice rose in me with powerful overtones. I turned my head, looking for the author in noticeable surprise, “Did I just hear the Lord speak directly to me,” I wondered.
One would say that audibly hearing the voice of the Lord was the best part of the story, and arguably, you might be right. However, the miracle was not the voice; it was the mere fact that I didn’t know what medical speech-language pathology was, nor had I been exposed to this profession before God directly instructed me. I was torn because I knew God called me into Christian counseling even as a youth, so I was majoring in psychology then. Yet, I knew I had to walk in obedience for how many times can someone proclaim, “God spoke to me and said…”
It was as if God had taken a delicate dandelion, placed it close to His lips, and breathed life, direction, and purpose into each seed that left the flower head that day. The next couple of weeks were a true whirlwind. I returned to college and opened the book of majors in the registrar’s department. The secretary asked, “What are you looking for, young man?” I said, “I need to look at the medical speech-language pathology curriculum because God told me to change my major.” She hesitantly acknowledged, “So, you’re changing your major to something you know nothing about?” I said with assurance, “Yes, ma’am.” I remember reading the list of classes, possible job placements, and years of schooling, and I thought, “I definitely can do this!”
Decades later and four degrees under my belt, I can emphatically say, “God is good, and He didn’t make a mistake.” Yet, my heart yearned for my original calling in Christian counseling. I know God has given me wisdom and vision from the Holy Spirit that I want to pour out onto others. Over the past thirty years, I’ve watched dandelion seeds effortlessly leave God’s hub and find their home in prepared soil. These seeds sprouted, grew, and multiplied in God’s garden of grace. However, I’ve also watched storms take hold of my other seeds and violently toss them in relentless rain, hail, and lightning, hoping to tear them apart.
In full admission, watching your seeds become worn, damaged, and lifeless through unrelenting storms is hard. Man’s breath originated these storms through words intent on killing instead of bringing life. As each negative word ripped through my seeds’ tufts, I truly believed those ministry seeds were too damaged to fly. In the last year, I’ve watched man’s breath rip into the parachute of these God-ordained dandelions, ripping holes in my soul and my purpose. At the time, I didn’t know God was ending a season, for I thought I was watching a dream die. Instead, God was moving me into my next garden.
I picked up these tiny tufts destroyed by man’s breath and returned them to the Creator. He lifted my chin and said, “I’m not done with you yet.” In fact, God reminded me of two important Biblical principles that day: “And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose” [Romans 8:28]. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” [Proverbs 19:21].
During that challenging season of watching man’s breath attempt to destroy my purpose, God providentially opened the door for me to return to school and obtain a graduate certificate in pastoral counseling from Liberty University. Instantly, God highlighted His omniscience by allowing me to begin pastoral counseling in my church under the direction of my pastor. There aren’t enough words to affirm this man for encouraging me and reinforcing God’s gifts in me. Through countless words of encouragement from my pastor, friends, and family, I officially received my graduate certificate in pastoral counseling this week.
God showed me that His purpose for my life is all that matters. Man’s breath can be destructive, but God is the One who orchestrates my steps. He delicately picked up those broken tufts and breathed new life into them. In this world, we will fight against the evil powers, rules, and darkness of this world. Sadly, even those we admire fall victim to the enemy’s plans. God revealed His supreme authority by bringing broken pieces back to life. Why? Because God had more incredible things in store. Now, I’m using God’s breath to counsel, deliver, and heal broken relationships and souls through the power of Jesus. I walk in tandem with the God who not only breathes but moves my dandelion tufts where He wants them to go, and no man will ever destroy that.
Therefore, I encourage you today. If you are reading this and believe you have no purpose, God has abandoned you, or all hope is lost, please permit God to bring your tufts back to life. He is not done with you yet. Once God breathes new life into something, you may find yourself chasing dandelion tufts on mountain tops on a bright summer’s day. You may dance in a wind of tufts covering you like God’s wing offering protection and rest. In complete and unabated worship, you may run in anticipation with outstretched arms to heaven’s throne. You may sit in reverence, knowing God has planted your tufts exactly where you’re supposed to be. You may fall prostrate in God’s presence. Either way, you will focus on God’s breath – not man’s.
Thankful,
Christian Armetta
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