Who I Am

The following entry was written by a young 3ABN employee. Tiara Walker is a dynamic part of the 3ABN production team following in the steps of her dad and brother who are both directors for 3ABN. She also appears regularly on 3ABN and the 3ABN Kid’s Network.

“So, what are you going to study in college? You are going to college, aren’t you? What are your majors? When are you going to get married? What career are you Pursuing? You don’t have a blueprint for your life yet?”

These questions rang loudly at me when I turned 18 as if I were to know for a fact what I was going to do with my life. I barely even started life yet. Fresh out of school, still ignorant in the ways of taxes, loan payments, and mortgages, I was overwhelmed. Panic set in. I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do with my life! I had no major career in mind to pursue, no hunger for getting into student loan debt, and sadly, no magical glowing path to guide me. I was clueless. “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” I thought to myself. “Who even am I?”

While my classmates and friends started enrolling in local colleges and universities, I began looking for career paths so I could soon follow. However, it seemed like every door I tried closed right in my face. Frantic to try and pave a path for myself so that I could be like the rest of the people around me, I grasped for any and every opportunity I could! One by one, doors kept closing. “Why can’t I just be like everyone else? Why don’t I know which way I want to go in my life?”

After a lot of frustration, I came to a realization. I had tried to pave a way by myself. I was so focused on trying to please those around me and give good answers to all those daunting questions, I was blinded to an important truth over my life. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” NIV 

I was so focused on trying to plan out my life on my own, I had forgotten that God already had a plan for me, and not just any old plan, but a prosperous one! 

I began implementing that scripture in my life. I stopped trying to open locked doors and let God open the ones He wanted. Slowly, He began guiding me. He called me to work at 3ABN instead of college that year. He allowed me to use the gifts He had given me to encourage others. He gave me opportunities to witness on programs that have aired around the world. I have walked into prisons and watched the Holy Spirit change lives right in front of me!

Instead of trying to pave out a path on my own in a world that I was (and still am) pretty ignorant in, I hushed my own worries and let God take the reigns.

My path was different than most of my classmates and friends, and I learned that that was okay! While they were fulfilling their dreams and passions, I realized I was fulfilling mine just the same; only I was doing it my own way. You can never tell what God will do next; the opportunities He has given me are beyond what I could have imagined. 

So, just because your path or calling in life is different than any of the people around you, or your answers to their questions aren’t what they expected, that’s okay! Who other than God is to say what the right plan for you and your life is? And, if you are in the same situation I was a couple of years ago, fresh out of school and confused on which path to take, that’s okay too. Don’t worry. If you allow Him, God will open the right doors at the right time.Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Whatever life throws at you from here on out, you will be okay; God has already promised it. Life may get hard at times, but it’s just that, life. And I know it will all be okay. Because in Christ, I found “Who I Am.”