It starts with a song. Or so it’s been said.

It starts with a dream, a vision, a goal, a plan, a passion, a knowing, a desire.

But then nothing seems to happen.

No matter what we do we can’t seem to get our goal off the ground. Setbacks, obstacles, life, all get in the way. Some throw in the white flag, others hoist it as a mast and keep sailing.

You’ve been there, I’m sure. You set out to do something, be something, accomplish something. Yet no matter how hard you try you seem to consistently meet with obstacles. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Obstacles can keep us passionate, focused and help maintain our strength to keep drudging along. But sometimes when those obstacles seem more prevalent than anything else they can wear us down, fill us with doubt and weaken our resolve.

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “ten year overnight success”.

Does it really take ten years to accomplish something? Ten years? Really? That’s an awfully long time to work on something without giving up.

Well, whether it’s ten years or two, I’m sure each of us has our “ten year overnight success story” to share.

I certainly do. It’s the creation of this blog, Country Music Enterprise. And I’d like to share it with you in hopes that somewhere in its telling you’ll find the inspiration to never give up on your goal, no matter how many obstacles seem to get in your way.

It Was a Fairly Simple Goal
My goal was fairly simple. My time with an online country music publication ended and I set out to start my own. I was pretty familiar with web design, writing and online publications so as far as I was concerned this was a no-brainer. Just do it.

I devised a simple plan to bring it all to fruition. I visualized the whole thing in my mind then I purchased a domain, thought about my content, layout, colors, a site template then met with web designers. We worked out the kinks and we were ready to go.

Then the Powers That Be intervened – hard, fast and repetitively, If HE made one thing clear, my country music blog  was not going to happen – not as I thought anyway.

• First, the cost to create what I wanted was far more than I or my budget expected.
• So I devised methods of generating income for the project – to no avail.
• So then I simply drew from my existing income stream and slowly put funds aside for the project. Then my existing income stream stopped. Like a ship suddenly hitting a boulder out of nowhere.
• So I began posting country articles at my parent company blog – but it really didn’t quite fit the landscape of that blog so my enthusiasm for that waned.
• I reached out to writers and editors I worked with at the previous publication. Like all of us, they were busy with life. And although each wanted to see this project come to fruition, none was able to put the time or funds into it that were needed.

We each went our separate ways dealing with what life presented us with. For me it wasn’t defeat. It was acceptance of knowing I was being stopped every step of the way because God had a grander plan. (Geez, I thought mine was pretty fantastic – but I’ve learned to trust the Big Kahuna – that is after several bumps and scrapes. No I don’t give up easily. I go down hard.)

Signs and Symbols Along the Way
I let go of the “how” and the “when” of the project but I never let go of the project itself. And if I had any doubt as to whether it was something I really should be pursuing or if I was merely daydreaming, every now and then clear signs and symbols would show up in my path to answer that doubt and remind me not to give up.

• Out of the blue a publicist that I had come to know sent me an email and in it she referenced a song by Randy Houser, “In God’s Time”. A song that Randy shares:

“is about helping people, and myself, realize that things happen when God wants them to”.

• I totally understood the publicist’s sentiment and the divine message.
• But admittedly I am as stubborn as a mule. “No” doesn’t exist in my book. “Can’t” is a fun challenge for me. But this e-mail sent shivers down my spine. – Thank you Amanda FC.
• Then one day I arrived at my healing arts office to meet with a client. A fellow practitioner had left a book on my desk she happened upon in her travels days prior. “Do You Know? Country Music” by Guy Robinson, a fun little book to test your country music knowledge. – Thank you Maxine B.
• Publicists would periodically send me CDs for review, call and ask if I would review an album, or if I was interested in conducting an interview. Some I would accept. Some I had to decline as I didn’t feel my audience would serve their client justice. Each time I wondered if they could hear the cry echoing in the pit of my stomach.

Why the heck could something so simple to accomplish be so impossible, I thought time after time after time.

And oh how “In God’s Time” repeatedly sang in my head.

Stardom and Hindsight
This activity went on for two years and never for a minute did I ever “give up my dream”. I had finally “let go and let God” but wondered, a bit in jest, if He was just too busy with the world being in the condition it was in to tend to my simple blog desire.

Then suddenly, as if it was something I had expected to happen, I woke one day with extreme clarity on how to bring this project to publication. Within three days the funds, the host, the design, the tech help, it just kept showing up. Even my astrologer was in on it. Within a week I was staring at my blog’s home page designing the layout and loading content.

In hindsight, I realize why Country Music Enterprise didn’t come together when “I” wanted it to. If it had I would have continued writing and publishing in the same manner I had done for the two years I was with the previous publication. And I knew down deep in my soul that that was not what I wanted to do. There was so much more I wanted to do with my country music entertainment writing, which is why I set out to publish my own blog. But it took me those two years to gain clarity on just what it was I wanted to do and how.

So often we think we know what we want and how to achieve it and become sorely disappointed and discouraged when it doesn’t happen our way. And it may sound like a cliché but it truly is not. Know what you want to do then trust that God will guide you and it will all come together “In God’s Time”.

I hope you enjoy Country Music Enterprise.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

I would love for you to share your story – because I’m sure you have one – of a goal you set out to reach and the journey you traveled or perhaps are still traveling to get where you want to be. Put it in comments below and be the voice of inspiration that someone else needs to hear!

 

Please enjoy “In God’s Time” by Randy Houser
but don’t forget to share your story for our readers to be inspired by! – Thank you.