God spoke to Jeremiah the prophet in the book of Jeremiah and said to him, “I knew you before you were born; before you were created in your mother’s womb.” If it’s true that we are pre-destined to be something, then why should we bother doing anything at all? If we don’t do anything, won’t our destiny just come to us?

One of the most famous stories of all time was that of Adam and Eve. You may recall that Adam was said to be cursed by God because of his disobedience to the Lord’s authority. He then cast Adam out of the Garden of Eden and told him that he would have to labor by the sweat of his face for the rest of his life and so would his future generations. This is one of the oldest stories that states, “No matter what you do in this life and no matter how good you are to God, you will always have to work for the rest of your life.” This is one of the oldest stories that teach us that we are destined to work because of something that another human being did. This story explains that because of our ancestor’s sin, we now all have to experience a fate that we could never turn away from for all eternity. Does the curse apply to everyone though?

Although the Bible says that all men are destined to work, it may be able to skip a few generations. For instance, if you are born into wealth and your parents have literally millions or even billions of dollars to give to you, then you may never have to work in your life time. You were basically born into wealth. However, if you would loose your wealth, then you would have to live under the curse of working once again.

Religions teaches us that God has a purpose for each of us and if we sit back and do nothing, then nothing will become of our lives. We basically have to pray everyday and strive after what God wants us to do. We have to fulfill our destiny and purpose in life. The destiny of a person that chooses to live the life of an alcoholic or drug abuser, may never find their destiny if they continue to walk in an unchanged direction. However, if they walk in a sober direction, they may find work easier and therefore recreate their own destiny.

God is said to love all human beings and we are each a child of God. If we are all God’s children, then we are indeed destined for greatness because we have a God in heaven that cares for each and every one of us. However, why do we strive to please God when everything in our life goes bust? When something goes wrong in our life, we think that the Lord is angry at us and when something goes right, we assume that he is pleased. Our thinking can also shape our destiny.

On January 25th 2007, the story of Oprah Winfrey aired on national television. In this documentary, Oprah Winfrey went back into her family line history by researching her roots of where her ancestors came from. The television host was able to trace Oprah’s roots all the way back to the days of slavery. As we all know, Oprah is an African American woman and her family came from a long line of slavery, pain and abuse because of the slavery era. As Oprah dug deep into her past, she was able to find that many of her ancestors helped to build schools and offer help to their fellow residents. Amazingly, Oprah Winfrey followed the fate of her ancestors by helping to build schools and to do work for peace and justice world wide. As we all know, she is a great humanitarian and talk show host. You cannot get bigger than Oprah.

Oprah came from a financially poor background and if you look at her roots and where she came from, there is no way that she could ever have become a millionaire in any way, shape or form. Her family was poor and her ancestors were poor. For whatever reason, the spiritual universe did not allow her family to inherit wealth or success until Oprah Winfrey was born. God had a plan in mind for her here. Oprah made it to the top of her career because of her persistence to succeed and because she would not give up. She could have just said, “My mom was poor and my family is poor, so I will just give up and just accept my fate.” She did not say that though. Oprah instead made it clear to herself that she was going to go to school and get an education. Oprah Winfrey Miraculously landed an interview with a local news station and the rest is history.

In order for Oprah Winfrey or any one of us to see their success, we have to work and go after our dreams the best way that we can. We must have faith. It doesn’t matter what religion you come from. Successful people are in all religions and walks of life. It is true that God has a plan for our lives, but we must also create that plan with the will that God gave to us. Our life is like a puzzle. It’s important for each of us to walk through life day by day trying to put all of the pieces together.

God ultimately creates your destiny, but we have to take the steps to walk in the direction that God is calling us to walk in. Nobody’s life is pre-destined for pain and destruction. Many people lead painful lives because they chose to lead that painful life. You are responsible for every decision that you ever made in your life and you cannot blame God or another person for its outcome. If something turned out bad for you, then it’s because you didn’t have enough wisdom or education to teach you how not to make that mistake. Wisdom and knowledge come from life experience and being taught by our elders. Millionaires are millionaires because they know something that you don’t. You are not cursed to be poor; you just don’t have the knowledge to achieve it right now, but it doesn’t mean that you never will.

It’s important to shape your destiny when you are old enough to comprehend what work and destiny is. It may be when you are 13 or 25. You also must be focused and disciplined. You cannot master too many things at once. If you want to become an actor, then you must master acting before you even go for your first job interview. You must master whatever it is that you are doing to the best of your ability. The reason why so many people fail at what they do is because they are not masters at what they do. Obsession is a good thing when it comes to learning our craft. The more that you know about something, the more successful you will become at it and therefore, you will shape your destiny.

Don’t feel bad about messing anything up because it’s all part of the plan. Our mistakes often lead us to more wisdom and understanding.