How to Navigate a Career Detour

Am I failing in my career?

At times I feel unsatisfied with the progress I’ve made in my career. 

I look at my peers and see their success, promotions, and accomplishments that I haven’t achieved. And I think to myself, “Am I doing something wrong?” 

I’m a millennial Christian that’s worked in startup companies for the past 12yrs. And I have dreams of starting my own company in the future.  

But more often than I like to admit, the results I expect in my career fail to match the level of effort that I put in.

My drive and discipline don’t seem to be the issue. I’m just tired of taking one step forward and then having to take 2 steps back when a setback comes.

Because of my faith and relationship with Jesus Christ, I believe my career plays a critical role in the purpose of my life.

But it can be challenging at times to maintain that hope when you get laid off, miss a promotion, work for a bad manager, or feel called to leave the only career industry you’ve ever known.

These moments are detours. Roadblocks. Setbacks that make you ask Jesus, “Am I just wasting my time here? And am I even on the right path to achieving my life’s purpose?”

Seeing purpose in your career can seem bleak. Especially if you work at a tech startup.

There were over 1,100 firms that laid off over 260,000 people in 2023 from small startups and big tech companies such as Google, Amazon and Meta.

The insecurities and fears of being the next employee to get cut are rampant within the tech community.

These layoffs remind me of March 2020, when I was laid off from my previous job working at a prominent, startup ecommerce agency.

A week before I was let go, I had finished reading a book called Detours: The Unpredictable Path to Your Destiny by Tony Evans.

This book, which highlights the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, helped me see and understand how the detours in my career (and life overall) can help me achieve my life’s purpose by following Jesus even if the setbacks initially feel like I’m “failing.”

So in this article, I will summarize what I believe to be the most important lessons Jesus can teach us through our own detours as He guides us to our destiny.

And as fate would have it, right before I finished writing this article that you’re reading now, I was let go from my job unexpectedly after working there for 3.5 years.

Timing… am I right?

Why you should believe in destiny

I get it.

Using the word ‘destiny’ to describe your life sounds over dramatic or borderline childish. It’s a concept usually reserved for children’s books or the latest Pixar movies.

But destiny is not some fairytale concept.

Destiny is the customized life calling that Jesus has equipped and appointed you to bring Him the greatest glory and maximum expansion of His kingdom (Isa 43:6-7).

You accomplish this when you share the gospel with people who don’t know Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus wants an eternal family. One made up of people that are given the gift of free will to choose to authentically trust and love Him with their life.

Destiny became real when God made you.

And it was affirmed when Jesus died for you and those around you. That’s how serious destiny is.

With Jesus, there is no room for waste or randomness with what He can do in your life (Acts 17:26-28). 

So you better believe that He will use the 1/3 third of your day (if not more) that you spend in your job for His plan. Including the career detours you’ll face.

Which means your destiny is in you right now. And it will continue to unfold and expand if you choose to act on it (John 4:10-14).

Detours are a part of your career

If you work at a startup or in a sales-focused role, there’s a saying, “today’s success is tomorrow’s expectations.”

It comes from a work culture where you’re expected to do more and do it faster than you did in the previous quarter or season.

However, the pace and output of your work that your company demands of you do not account for your dry seasons or other career detours.

And as a result, a career detour can feel like a symptom of being ineffective at our job.

The path and trajectory of our lives are unique. And they shouldn’t be compared to the linear growth projections of a business found in an excel sheet.

Divine detours, especially ones in our career, are then used to help us reach our potential that Jesus has prepared for us.

But in order to take advantage of our career detours, it requires us to understand the four principles of detours and how they can shape our destiny.

The four principles of detours

1. Purpose

The irony of detours in a Christian businessman’s life is that detours are good things that often feel bad.

Look at Joseph in the book of Genesis chapters 37-50. 

He was thrown into prison because his boss’s wife falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her. When in reality, she tried to seduce Joseph to sleep with her.

But being the kingdom man he was, Joseph ran away from her out of obedience to God and respect for his boss. 

Where’s the purpose in that?!

On the surface this doesn’t look like a good thing to anyone. But good and bad things can happen simultaneously in order to bring you closer to the place God has for you.

That sexual assault charge is what ultimately set up Joseph to be in a position to accept his biggest calling of becoming the chief operating officer of Egypt, where he reported only to Pharaoh. 

Detours, like Joseph’s, are where Jesus will often ask us to sacrifice or overcome a temptation to show us where we need to trust him more.

Life is the opportunity for us to choose to become more like Jesus.

And the purpose of divinely designed detours is to help us reach the destiny Jesus has for us.

When you recognize that your detours are opportunities to trust that God will navigate you through the midst of injustice, sin, disappointment and tragedy, it allows you to experience an authentic hope in your soul.

Where Jesus can use these detours to transform our pain into a passion for him.

A passion where our greatest miseries become some of our greatest ministries for sharing Jesus with others in our careers.

So if you find yourself in a situation like Joseph at your job, where you’re struggling or suffering out of a decision you’ve made to be obedient to Jesus, your detour is right where He wants you to be.

It’s a place that allows you to proclaim that you still praise God in spite of your detour. To focus on what truly matters so much more than the pain of the detour. To show people that you can be patient with your suffering here on Earth because you know that you’ll spend eternity with Jesus with no suffering.

Not everyone, let alone most of your coworkers, will understand that.

Your detours can shape you to become more relatable to others so you can speak truth into their lives.

Who better to encourage someone who’s been laid off than someone else who’s been there too?

What impresses non-believers is not how Christians handle prosperity, but how Christians handle adversity.

2. Clarity

Many times, detours in our careers can come from out of left field.

Things might be running smoothly. And then BAM!

You’re hit with a surprise meeting from your boss who tells you that you’re being put on a performance improvement plan. And if you don’t achieve a specific sales goal in a month you’re going to be fired. (This literally happened to me a couple years ago.)

Joseph’s detours seemed to come out of nowhere as well. 

In Genesis 37:17-28 it says Joseph was the manager of his brothers in their father's business.

One day during work Joseph’s brothers were jealous and threw him into a pit where they immediately sold him to slave traders that were passing by. 

In these moments it’s easy to ask “Why me God? Why does this have to happen to me? It doesn’t make sense.”

Detours don’t make sense in the moment because we don’t have full clarity on how our current situation aligns with our purpose (1 Corinthians 2:9).

We can’t see the full story of how our lives will play out.

Because we’re not omniscient. We’re not God. 

And when we lack clarity it can cause us to be impatient, bitter, and doubtful that we are even on the right path.

Your lack of clarity in your detour is where Jesus is asking you to take the next step without showing you the destination.

You lacking clarity is a catalyst that Jesus uses to draw you nearer to Him.

That’s because when you’ve tried everything else and nothing works, you have nowhere else to go but Him.

It’s in these moments where you build your faith by trusting in Jesus that He will reveal the rationale and reason of the detour as time moves on (Proverbs 3:5-7).

So what I’ve learned in my detours is to stop asking “Why me, God?” And instead ask “What, God? What are you trying to teach me about YOU and me in this detour?”

3. Timing

Perhaps the hardest principle to understand about your detours is their timing. 

When goal setting, no one sets aside a specific amount of time to account for detours in their plans. Especially when you’re putting Jesus first in your career decisions. 

And as a result, a detour can innately feel like a warning sign that we are no longer fit for a career we believe God has for us.

However, there will be times when God will give us glimpses of our destiny way before we are ready to fulfill them. 

I’m sure you can relate.

Perhaps Jesus has placed on your heart that one day you’ll become a chief marketing officer, start a business, or be a manager. 

And so we focus on doing everything we can to reach that goal. But a detour comes along that delays our momentum.

On the surface, a delay in our career feels like a denial from Jesus.

But a delay doesn’t automatically mean it’s a denial. 

Your destiny doesn’t happen overnight. It took 22 years for Joseph to fulfill the vision that God gave to Joseph about his career. 

Detours won’t impact God’s pace in delivering on His promises to you (2 Peter 3:9). His timing is always perfect.

There are people, places, and environments that you are destined for that may not be ready for you right now.

Shoot. There are parts of your destiny that you are not ready for yet either.

So while God is at work in the lives of the other 7 billion people, He is also working and influencing you to become more like Christ. 

So we must use the time that is given to us during our detours to enhance our spiritual gifts, mindset, and hearts in order that we can serve Jesus faithfully.

Serving is your purpose.

It’s just a matter of understanding how you’ve been uniquely made to serve, especially in the capacity of your career.

4. Alignment

Being in alignment with Jesus is about consistently imitating who He is with purposeful intention (Ephesians 5:1-2).

That was God’s purpose from the beginning when He made us in His image (Genesis 1:26).

He told us to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over every creature (Genesis 1:28).

The legacy and greatness you bring for the Kingdom is determined by how you rule in your career and your personal life.

Jesus has called many of us to represent Him in the world of startups, entrepreneurship, the corporate world, and small businesses.

But the only person that can keep you from your destiny is yourself in refusing to come into alignment with Him.

We may start off our career or business with the right intentions to be great for God. But along the way we can veer off course.

If left unchecked, our accomplishments can fuel our ego, tempting us to believe that we are self reliant, which can turn us into our own false god.

We end up forsaking our first love of Jesus. And we start to prioritize our own plans and desires above God’s will for His Kingdom.

But we won’t reach the next phase of our destiny if we don’t allow Him to shape our character.

So God allows detours to course correct us back into alignment with Him.

It’s in detours where we must first deal with our sins and immaturity that would hold us back in the next stage God’s preparing for us.

Because why would God bring us into our destiny if we aren’t prepared spiritually to handle it?

God will let things get out of control in our lives to help us realize that we never had control in the first place (Proverbs 19:21).

Your business network, knowledge, and money can’t buy you out of your divine detours.

Because sometimes we must hit rock bottom in our lives so that we can see that He is the rock at the bottom.

Jesus is our firm foundation not our career.

How to get through your detours

Whether your heading into a detour, in the middle of one, or just coming out of one, here are 4 things to remember to help you get through your next detour:

1. Locate God’s presence in your detour

When you’re going through a detour look to see where and how God is moving in it.

If He’s not delivering you out of it, then He’s meeting you in it.

Acknowledging God’s presence in your detour will not only influence your perspective of your situation, but it will also influence what you achieve through your faith.

And your faith allows God’s providence to be a witness to the world where He gets the glory.

God didn’t protect Joseph from becoming a slave to Potiphar or from getting thrown in prison.

But God gave Joseph favor in those detours.

When Joseph was in prison, God gave Pharaoh two dreams that could only be interpreted by Joseph (Gen 41:1-40).

Joseph was able to interpret the dreams because he could look back at his life and see how God had shown up in similar patterns through dreams He had given to Joseph.

So in your quiet time with God, ask Him to show you where He is moving in your detour.

It’s possible He is showing up by bringing someone into your life to encourage you to keep pushing forward.

Look back at your life leading up to your detour to spot patterns where you’ve seen God deliver on His promises and gave you favor.

Praise Him now for those times.

Because when you praise Him during your detour, the Spirit will increase your hope and give you peace that transcends the reality of your current situation so you can keep moving through it.

2. Serve others while you’re in your detour

When we are suffering in our detour, it’s human nature for us to want to be self-absorbed. 

In our grieving we ask “Why me God? Why did this have to happen to me?"

But in reality, the real question we should be asking is “What God? What do you want me to learn in this detour about you and me?” 

That’s because God is more interested in developing your character than delivering you into comfort. 

The way we are to respond in our detour is to serve others that are navigating their own detours.

From your greatest misery will come some of your greatest ministries. 

So while you may be waiting for God to minister to you in your detour, He may be waiting for you first to minister to someone else.

Serving someone else is time consuming.

Especially when you may feel like you’re barely holding it together yourself in your detour. 

But that’s what love is, time consuming.

Which is probably why it’s not a coincidence that when the apostle Paul described love in 1 Corinthians, he started with “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

When Joseph was thrown into prison, he could have kept to himself.

However, he was put in charge to attend and take care of two other prisoners, the Pharaoh’s Chief Cupbearer and Chief Baker (Gen 40: 1-19). Joseph ministered to them by interpreting their dreams. 

And 2 years later when the cupbearer was out of prison and serving Pharaoh, he recommended Pharaoh to meet with Joseph so that Joseph could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.

You’ll never know how God will use your ministry to take you to the next phase of your destiny. 

So be fruitful where you are now in your detour. Serve humbly.

You could be the blessing that someone needs today.

3. Forgive

Forgiveness is a beautiful principle that we love to experience when we’ve offended someone.

But it’s difficult to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Especially those that may have pushed us into our detour.

Many of us do not experience the benefits of forgiveness.

Instead we end up letting our feelings dictate our decision in whether we choose to forgive someone. 

We wait to receive an apology first before we offer forgiveness.

And in doing so, we make forgiveness a reactive decision instead of a proactive one.

You can not wait for the other person to apologize first because that day may never come.

Your manager, company, client, or coworker may not acknowledge the harm that they have caused you (Luke 23:34). 

Which is why your ability to forgive has more to do with a decision than a feeling.

As Christians, we are to forgive others. Because forgiveness is at the heart of the gospel.

Forgiving is the decision to see the human through their infraction for who they truly are. A soul with inherent value.

Because no matter where their soul ends up in eternity, Jesus still chose to die for them like he did for you.

And when we forgive others, we are able to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

It’s in forgiveness that we gain clarity that the pain others cause us can be used by God to guide us into opportunities and places that we would have never decided to pursue on our own.

In Genesis chapter 45 Joseph chose to forgive his brothers when he made himself known to them when they came to Egypt to buy grain because of a famine:

“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

So is there someone you need to forgive who pushed you into your detour?

4. Wait the right way

Waiting in a detour is hard. 

It’s in the waiting that our insecurities will shout the loudest at us. Telling us that our dreams and goals are passing us by, slowly slipping through our fingertips. 

We become so concerned with getting out of our detour as soon as possible that we forget to maximize the location our detour has currently put us in. 

Waiting is not the absence of progress. 

When done correctly, the waiting in your detour is where you have the opportunity to grow and develop your spiritual maturity. 

Waiting is the margin created within your detour that empowers you to practice and implement every day the things that God has already revealed to you through his word and the gifts He’s given you.

Philippians 3:16 tells us we are to live up to the truth we have come to know. 

In other words, your response to any situation you're in should be based on what God has shared with you in your relationship with Him. 

Throughout all of Joseph’s detours, he lived up to the standard God had revealed to him.

His work ethic didn’t waver. And neither did his attitude and respect for his superiors. 

No matter his situation, Joseph was able to wait the right way because he knew that he was ultimately working for the LORD.  

So how are you spending your time in your waiting? 

Whether you currently have a job or not, are you putting forth your best effort regardless of the outcome and recognition?

Or have you quietly quit on your company, your boss, and/or yourself?

Know that God will not rip you off from your destiny while you’re waiting.

Because your destiny is part of His story. 

Detours are your opportunities

God is bigger than your detours.

And if you choose to let Him, He’ll use every detour in your life as an opportunity to transform you into the greatest version of yourself – a reflection of His son, Jesus.

No matter where you work, the cultures and communities within companies big and small need the presence of Jesus more than ever. 

It doesn’t matter what your current title, salary, or position is at your job. God can use you to represent Him in the marketplace. 

If God can take Joseph, who was a slave and prisoner, to be second in command after Pharaoh, then He can use you regardless of your current career detour. 

He’s already given you the authority to stand firm for Him in your circumstance.

And He already has the blessing lined up for you on the other side.

So lean into your detour my friend.