Career Planning: A Christian Counselor’s Perspective on Personal Development

Choosing a career path or the next step in your career can be a daunting task. For those who are not typically planners, it can be difficult to conceptualize where to go next or how to achieve your ultimate goal(s). On the other hand, if you are the Type-A planning type, your struggles may be a little different. You may have exhaustive plans but struggle with flexibility when things change.

Finding the Right Career Path

No matter what background or personality type you have, choosing a career path that checks all of the right boxes can be tough. Some of the typical boxes typical might look something like this:

• Get into the right college.
• Find a job that utilizes my talents and skills.
• Find a job that I won’t hate.
• Find a job that will allow me to eat more than ramen noodles and lentils.

Moreover, in addition to these concerns, most Christian individuals also struggle with the additional checkbox:

• Find the career God wants for me.

Allowing God to Guide Your Career Plans

Tall order, right? Or maybe not so much. Of course, there is a chance that God will reveal His will for you extremely clearly. However, if you don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what God wants for your life, it is okay to start setting some goals, as long as you stay open to God’s guidance within these decisions. Most people will make a series of decisions that ultimately lead to a long-term path or career. Taking this one decision at a time allows you to pray and to seek guidance in each step. But knowing your ultimate goal also allows you to make decisions decisively and with purpose. By picking up your foot to begin to take a step you allow God to guide where the footstep may end up.

In the following articles in this short series on career planning, we’ll be discussing how to begin prepping for your future by setting goals, building focus, and making plans. But first, let’s dive in with a little inspiration and some things to think about on the journey. Here are some verses that can help you as you seek to allow God to guide your career plans.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. Proverbs 21:5

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor. Proverbs 21:21

My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:1-6

Christian Counseling for Personal Development

No matter where you are in your planning, the counselors at Tacoma Christian Counseling would be happy to aid you in your personal development plans and career planning. It can be difficult to figure out what you want out of life. But seeking therapy can help you to clarify your values, determine the goals that fit with these values, and, ultimately, help you begin to discern your calling.