08/08/2026
I give you permission.
Well, I give myself permission too.
Permission to do what, you may ask?
Permission not to finish what you have started. I know it sounds a bit odd, but get ready, it is story time.
In 2015, I started my PhD in drug herb interactions and herbal safety. I was passionate about what I was doing and had great plans for the future in the field of biochemistry. Two years after, those plans somehow got disrupted and God said, "Write that book." Something shifted in me, and what I was once passionate about became like a cage I found myself trapped in.
Nevertheless, I thought I had to finish what I started. I ignored the call to write and kept pushing through my degree. 2018 passed and the conviction grew, but the restlessness grew right along with it.
In 2019, the word of the Lord came through my pastor, "The longer you take to do what I told you to do, the more souls are perishing." That was the word that changed everything. My studies were not in alignment with what He was calling me to do. But I was so adamant that I had to finish what I started, even when everything in my life was pointing me in another direction, I would not let go.
I looked around at my colleagues. I thought about my family, my thesis supervisor, and what everyone would think. I said I was not a quitter, but I could not bear the restlessness I felt.
After I wrote my first two books, I started to experience a peace and purpose that I did not know was possible. Suddenly, my life began to make sense. I could see glimpses of the pathway that would take me to the big goals and vision that I had for impact.
I realized I could not use my colleagues as examples because they were walking a different path than God called me to walk. So I had to step out in faith, trusting that while nobody would understand my decision, my obedience would eventually bear fruit.
Today, as I am faced with another one of those pivotal decisions, I give myself permission to make a crazy move and obey God's instructions. My life has been better than I dreamed, and with God leading the way, it will only get better.
What do you need to give yourself permission to do?
