God's Plan All Along

By: Sakura Reese

As a graphic designer my job is to be a creative consultant, create imagery, articulate in pictures, and solve creative roadblocks. I’ve been a designer ever since I discovered that artists could make a living! It was discovered late in my college years at California State University of Long Beach, which happened to have a reputable design department. Immediately after I shifted my focus(major) in Visual Communications, I knew it was right for me.

Fast forward 8 years later, I’m thriving and working as an Art Director for an award-winning Advertising Agency. I’m at my happiest working for what feels like my dream job, so I thought. At the same time, my spiritual walk with God was growing fast and my heart was beginning to shift, which at the time didn’t feel that different from the rest of me. My desires went from “I want bigger clients,” “I want more recognition,” to “God, what is Your purpose that You have for me.” Though it seemed like a small part of me had shifted, the purpose in my life no longer craved attention. If anything, I was re-prioritizing my life and asking myself, who am I saying yes to?

God then had a plan for me. An entirely different objective with no creative briefing. It first came as a prompting from God who said, “Go work for the church.” That was it. I had no idea what that meant, but I heard it and I had to share it with someone. It was the very next day that I was called into a private meeting at work, and without notice, I was getting laid off. I knew God’s hands were already in it.

God had a plan for me to freelance for Ahava Design, which is a church owned business. If the prompting wasn’t confirmation, I later found out that the owner of Ahava actually had a prompting as well years before - that two creatives would join Ahava. Myself and a gal named Megan. If that wasn’t enough, I later discover that Megan was on a personal journey with God to leave her corporate workplace as an Interior Designer to come work for Ahava. Mind you, this all happened within 2 weeks of each other!

Soon after I had arrived at Ahava, I received my first assignment! If you’re an independent contractor, you know work doesn’t come to you. My first assignment was from none other than, Michele Okimura with Explicit Movement. By the way, she wasn’t aware that I had just joined Ahava. She felt the Lord tell her to ask Ahava for her next project, which if she had inquired 2 weeks prior, the answer to that would have been no. Again and again, we found ourselves, astonished and in awe of God’s timing.

What’s so amazing about discovering how God operates, is that you begin to see how God’s hand can be in your stories, too.