Almost 30

I'll be 30 years old in a couple months and I've been thinking about where I am in life right now. I wonder what happened to all the plans I had as a kid. At 12 years old I knew what I wanted my adult life to look like and I had a plan. I would get straight A's in school, go to college and have my life together by 25 years old. I also wanted to move to Mexico to learn the language and the people. I dreamed of being a doctor or a crime scene investigator. I mean I had big plans to make it in life and I thought for sure that will my headstrong attitude, no one could stop me. Well, life doesn't always go as planned. As I approach 30, I have to admit that I've looked back to analyze how my decisions have affected my life.
Big Decision #1:  I left home at 16 years old and decided to finish school at an accelerated high school. That was a huge decision but I felt like it put me in the right direction. I passed with all A's and received a scholarship that would give me 4 years of college without a penny out of my pocket. I felt proud to be one of the only 17-year-olds in college and my plans seemed to be going well.
Big Decision #2: I majored in criminal justice but later decided to change it to accounting due to low probability for work in the CSI department. Well, I made it about a year before my plans started to get a little shaky.
  I hadn't planned on leaving my adopted parents house as a teenager but sexual abuse forced me to leap into adulthood early. So there I was, 17 years old working full time as a sales rep. I went to school part-time and I also partied part-time to deal with anxiety. Drinking a beer while doing homework was the only way I thought I could keep it together. (Big Horrible Decision #3 )
  Soon enough, partying, working and going to school was too much to manage so I was forced to give up one of them. You probably guessed, it wasn't partying, and it wasn't my job, it was school.
Big Decision #4: I decided to give up my scholarship. My boyfriend at the time was fresh out of prison and didn't have any wise advice for me concerning school, so that was the end of that. Funny enough, our relationship lasted 6 months, that job lasted a little over a year and that big decision lasted a lifetime.
  Later, I went on to find another job, another boyfriend and I ended up pregnant at 19 years old. (Decision #6 ) I stayed with my daughter's dad for 2 years. We ran a sales business together but by 22 years old, we were addicted to drugs ( Decision #7 ) and ended up homeless. I spent 4 months on the streets without food or clothes.
Finally, in 2012, Jesus Christ rescued me. He got me off of the streets, helped me get my daughter back and he helped me stay sober. He gave me peace and happiness in a life I thought I had ruined. ( Notice those were not decisions, they were gifts that only God could give. )
  I look back and wonder what life would have been had I not made so many bad decisions. I really feel like quitting school was the pivotal point in my life that brought me to where I am today. It was then that my priorities changed and caused a domino effect.
  Now, today I am almost 30 years old. I am a single parent of a beautiful 9-year-old little girl. I have an apartment planted in the "hood" of Phoenix, AZ and I work as a personal trainer. I have been through 25 different jobs just trying to find something I enjoy but am excited to have launched as an entrepreneur into the fitness industry this year. I used to do drugs but I also know what it's like to have Jesus set me free. I never got a degree but what I got was experiences that no book could have taught me. I've seen the highs of having my own business and the lowest of lows as a homeless drug addict, along with everything in between. I'm not in the perfect place but I'm sober and I think I am right where God intended for me to be.
  I look back and realize that I have made a ton of wrong choices. My life WOULD be different had I stayed in school. I would be somewhere with a good boring job, money in the bank and a nice house but here I am....almost 30, with scars on my face, and pain in my eyes. Here I am standing strong with a beautiful 9-year-old world-changer by my side. I have no fear, no wants and there's nobody that can take my joy. I believe ladies and gentlemen that I've made it to where I've always dreamed I could be, I just didn't know it. God has somehow taken all my terrible choices and turned them into the rugged paths that would lead me to destiny. God didn't want me to be a good little bilingual accountant that looked like she had it all together. He wanted me to be a strong woman, a fierce mother, a compassionate friend, a risk-taking dreaming entrepreneur. The road I had planned for myself would have left me without what I needed. The mistakes have put me on the road to redemption. I always desired to walk a straight path but instead God wanted me to fly...
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