I Don't Need to Know How to Do Anything

“I don’t need to know how to do anything because God knows how to do everything.”

I heard this phrase recently, and it had really resonated for me. My life story is a series of new obsessions (modern art, jewelry design, songwriting, ministry), discovered and then pursued with a deep passion and singular intensity. My dad says it like this, “One day you just woke up and said, ‘I think I’ll be a painter.’ And then you sold a bunch of paintings all over the world and had paintings in galleries and shows in New York. You just decide you can do it and it happens.” I laugh when he says it, because I’m sure it really does look that way from the outside. I just get a wild hair and >POOF<, the Universe falls right into line and I get whatever I want.

The truth is, I’m just like everyone else. I don’t have a magic wand (okay, I do own a wand, but that’s a story for another essay), and nothing’s happening for me that can’t happen through everyone else. When I discover these new wonderful activities or arts or ideas, I don’t know how to bring them to life. But I don’t have to. I don’t have to know how to do anything because God knows how to do everything. If I just focus on the parts I know how to do right now and open myself up in faith and trust, Sweet Spirit puts in my path exactly who I need to partner with me through the next step. And then the next step, and the next.

When I wanted to get over my fear of singing in public, all I wanted to do was be able to sing karaoke or join in around the campfire without terror. The Universe brought me Dawn, a talented and experienced vocal coach who ‘just happened’ to be a buddy from church. She helped me find my voice and to overcome the fear. God-in-her knew how to reach me, how to show me what I was capable of, which was so much more than I had even dared to dream. When Dawn and I reached the end of what we knew how to do but felt the Divine pull to make an album, the Universe brought us wonderful musicians, producers, photographers, mastering engineers, graphic designers... We didn’t know how to do all the things needed to make an album, but that was okay. God knows how to do everything, and how to connect the dots.

And as I step into the next great adventure, and the next, and the next, I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. It’s new and I’m inexperienced and learning as I go. And you know what? That’s okay. I don’t have to know how to do anything, because God knows how to do everything. And God will show me how.