Finding My Next Step

Posted by: Patrick Nugent, Business Development Associate | Monday, July 28th, 2025 (12:00am)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.—Psalm 119:105

I sat at the table, laptop open in front of me, lost in thought. My mind was hyper-focused on one singular thought: “My family needs my presence, not just my paycheck.”

Years before when I met my wife, I had already established myself as a traveling sales rep in the building materials industry. She understood that life with me meant I was on the road for a few nights most weeks. She managed meals, school pickups, practice drop-offs, doctors appointments, and all the other challenges that having four kids can bring. And she did it without help from me.

Our middle daughter was diagnosed with a chromosomal disorder as an infant and as she hit school age, managing her care was becoming too much for one parent to do alone. Something needed to change.

I had been traveling my sales territory for 17 years, but the climate in corporate America was changing, and my family needed me. I could tell that season of my life was coming to an end. But what should I do next?

Still very new in my faith walk, I had been praying that if I was supposed to find a new job God would reveal what His intentions were. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path,” so I prayed and prayed that God would show me the exact route He wanted me to take. “Show me what you want me to do,” I’d pray. “Where you want me to work, where you want me to go, and reveal to me what your plans are.”

Have you ever prayed for that? Or something similar? “Lord, reveal your plans to me.”

Here’s the problem: I was looking at the “lamp” through the eyes of a modern-day man, totally missing the context from which this verse was originally written.

When we think about a light made for a dark path, naturally we picture a flashlight, a large torch, or maybe even a Coleman camping lantern. However, these are not the type of lights the author of this verse would have even imagined. Instead, the “lamp” refers to a nighttime travel lamp used in ancient times. It was about the size of a golf ball, hung from a chain needing to be carried, and contained a small wick with fuel. It doesn’t light up the whole path, not even close. It lights up your next step. When using it, you can see only about two feet in front of you.

Learning this shifted my prayer from “Reveal your plans to me” to “Reveal my next step Lord and give me the courage to take it.”

Wouldn’t you know it? As soon as I shifted my heart toward His intentions and prayed for Him to reveal my next step, rather than the whole route, He did!

After a few months of emailing applications and resumes with little or no response, I heard His now-familiar voice say to me, “Search radio station jobs.” As it turns out, the next step would require a tremendous amount of faith. Leaving the industry I had spent most of my adult life in and ending up here at WCSG.

The steps haven’t always been easy, but God gives me strength through the Holy Spirit to keep on this path. I am home with my family every night, I am present for my children, and I am present for my wife.

If you are trying to figure the right direction, God may not light up your whole journey, but He is faithful and will light up your next step. Trust Him to give you courage to just put one foot in front of the other, knowing He is leading you right where you need to go.

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