Don’t you know that day dawns after night, showers displace drought, and spring and summer follow winter? Then, have hope! Hope forever, for God will not fail you! Charles Spurgeon

People have different names for what happens to them in life; especially the good stuff. Some call it luck, others refer to fate or coincidence, and sometimes just being in the right place at the right time. But when things happen to me, I choose to call it God’s devine hand and intervention — sometimes for better, other times, not so much. But I could not begin to share this new journey of mine, with all of life experiences that has made me who I am — without starting off with my statement of faith, that is, my belief that it is God who has given, permitted, allowed, and in some cases, also prevented everything that has happened to me in my life.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about God taking away my free will. If I choose to walk out in front of an oncoming truck driving 50 mph, it’s likely I’ll end up in the ICU or worse. So what I mean by God being in the midst of everything that happens in my life is that while I can choose to make my own decisions every day, I believe that for someone like me, who wants to ask, listen, and then follow the voice and commands of God’s leadership, there is nothing that has happened that He didn’t already know was going to happen, in what I like to call a blessing, a lesson, an opportunity, or a teachable moment for me.

It’s always been interesting to me that many of the people who say they don’t believe in God, are the same ones who blame Him first whenever a natural disaster or personal tragedy occurs. Likewise, I see other people who claim to believe in Him, but who live life as if all of their success was their own doing — their talent, their work ethic, their good fortune.  I suppose we are all selfish by nature; and afterall, we’re taught from grade school to work hard, stay motivated, and be all WE can be! And our reward systems have traditionally been based on those teachings. But it has been through the understanding of from Whom I get my talents, gifts, passions, work ethic, and even which things I don’t like, that I’ve come to understand that God is in everything; including the personalities that He gave each of us, filled with desires to be or do something that stirs our emotions, drives our passions, and makes us pursue something that at times we just don’t think we can go another day without.

While in Graduate School, I found myself working part-time in the South Carolina Lt Governor’s office, and interning in the University of South Carolina’s Sports Information office. Both of those opportunities allowed me a chance to work with and around athletes, politicians, media, and local celebritries. It was a combinaton of those expierences and my newly obtained Mass Communication/Public Relations education that helped me to land a job as the Public Information Officer for the state parks system; where I had the opportunity to expand my network and comfort level dealing with VIPs. But little did I know that the time I spent writing for the entertainment section of our college newspaper, as well as a local entertainment newspaper during that same time period would deepen my interest, and eventually my passion of working in the music industry. It was that passion that fueled my pursuit, and lead me to leave state government and enter into a whole new world of music and entertainment. Who knew it would be, at that time, the largest entertainment & literary company in the world!

People often ask me “who did you know?” “how did you get in?” and other related questions. The truth is I didn’t know anyone in the Lt Governor’s office. I didn’t have an “in” to working with South Carolina sports. And the story of how I landed an entry level job at the William Morris Agency, and worked my way up to being a music agent, is too long to explain, and almost worthy of its own book. But what I can say is that in looking back, I see the Hand of God on so many decisions I made that lead me from one place to another, to meet one person or another, to accomplish various tasks, aquire new skills, strengthen certain gifts, and even develop new talents — all of which help me to adjust to new situations and challenges — some for growth; others for recovery.

I learned how not to listen to other people’s limitations on my life. And also, how not to get used to an everyday “normal” life. Oh how I’d love to go back and revisit my high school Guidance Counselor and my College “career” Advisor (lower case on purpose).

I believe that we all need to learn how to take advantage of every experience and educational opportunity that comes our way; and learn from every job we find ourselves in. Because we never know how what we’re doing today, who we’re meeting next week, what knowledge we may be gaining this year, may be there to help you when life throws you into an unforseen scenario that forces you to adjust that life; adjust to a new normal.