THE PATHS TO YOUR DESTINY

THURSDAY AUGUST 13

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.” Isa 48:17 NLT

You’ll probably travel several different paths on your way to your destiny. When Luciano Pavarotti was a boy, his grandmother often put him on her lap and said, “You’re going to be great—you’ll see.” But his grandmother had dreams of him becoming a banker! Instead, he became a schoolteacher. He taught elementary school for a while, occasionally singing at special events. His father was the one who challenged him to develop his voice, telling him he was settling far short of his potential. Finally, at age twenty-two, Pavarotti stopped teaching to sell insurance. He continued to look for something stable on which he could rely financially in case he could not make it in the music world. The insurance business allowed him time to take voice lessons, and as they say, “The rest is history.” In an interview, the opera star said, “Studying voice was the turning point of my life.” Then he added, “It’s a mistake to settle for the safe path in life.” It takes courage to leave a position you consider safe and launch out in a new direction, but without risk, you can never realize your potential or know all God created you to be. The greatest risk of all is to take no risk because the person who risks nothing accomplishes nothing, has nothing, feels nothing, and, in the end, becomes nothing. God may lead you along several different paths on your way to your destiny, but if you submit to His will and follow His guidance, you will surely succeed.