It is easy to turn back to what’s familiar when we face difficulty. When I graduated from college with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Political Science, I had no desire to go into Mass Retail Management. However, I needed a graduate degree to go into the humanities. Circumstances did not allow me to continue my education. Loans were not easily available as they are now.

It is not always easy to change career paths. In my nineteen years I tried many times to find a job that got me out of retail management and get a job that paid almost as much as I was making. However, there were no jobs that paid similar except other retail jobs. With a wife and two teenagers, I could not afford a pay cut.

I had to hit rock bottom with the present job and find other retail jobs in order to break free. With this feeling of hopelessness, I was able to make the decision that I wanted to make for years without being afraid. Any decision would have been an improvement. This gave me the encouragement to attend graduate school.

After finishing graduate school and moving to another state, I found myself looking for another job. I was looking for jobs that were commensurate with the education that I had acquired previously and not my job experiences. I did not want to go back into retail management. With the children graduating from high school and on their own, we were able to get by with less money.

You guessed it. I ended up in retail but less responsibility. One day while on a lunch break, I picked up a magazine and read an article about a lost soul who became a substitute teacher while he was finding himself. It inspired me to do the same. I still worked part time in retail but now in education too. In the end Special Education won.

When the Israelites felt the distress of an upcoming Assyrian attack, they crawled back to the Egyptians their former slave masters for help (Isaiah 30:1-5). God predicted that this would be disastrous, but He continued to care for them although they made the wrong choice. Isaiah voiced God’s heart: “The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion” (v.18).

This is God’s attitude toward us, even when we choose to look elsewhere to numb our pain. He wants to help us. He does not want us to hurt ourselves with habits that create bondage. Short term gratification snares the lot of us. God wants to provide authentic healing as we walk closely with him.

It is my prayer that you do not take as long as I did to learn. He can fix what is broken in your life. “He is the fairest of ten thousand, He is the altogether lovely One.”