Same Path. Different Conditions.
Learning to depend on Jesus when the journey changes.
By Jeanne Osgood, VP of Advancement, Bethel University
Every winter, on the lake near my home, someone carefully plows a walking path on the ice. It winds around the perimeter—predictable and familiar. One morning, as I laced up my boots and stepped onto the path, I felt the sun on my face, the wind at my back, and the route was clear.
But when I turned around to head home, everything had changed. The same path was there, yet the conditions were completely different. Wind gusts had pushed snowdrifts across the trail, and I had to pull my scarf up over my face. Every step required attention and focus. The lesson became clear: same path, different conditions.
That phrase has stayed with me.
We all have seasons when the path we’re on—our calling, our faith, our leadership—suddenly feels harder to navigate. The direction hasn’t changed, but the conditions have. What once felt simple or straightforward now demands a deeper dependence on God.
I’ve come to realize that’s where much of real growth happens—not when the path is clear and the sun is shining, but when the wind changes. It’s here that we are forced to pause and assess. Not to change course, but instead, we’re invited to depend more deeply.
In James 1:2–8 (The Message), we’re told to “consider it a sheer gift… when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.” The passage goes on to say that our faith life is “forced into the open and shows its true colors.” That line has convicted me more than once. Dependence on God isn’t weakness—it’s the strength that steadies our steps when conditions shift.
I’ve spent years teaching others about strategy, clarity, and courage. But lately, God has been teaching me about dependence—the kind that doesn’t come naturally to driven people like me. Dependence is slower, quieter, and often uncomfortable. This is hard for leaders! It means walking the same path with less control, more surrender, and a renewed awareness that God is the one clearing the way, not me.
Dependence is the thread that weaves faith and leadership together. Without it, we start to rely on our own strength and strategy. With it, we begin to recognize that every changed condition is an invitation to trust more deeply.
Several years ago, I helped create The 25 at Bethel University—a leadership development program for students, designed to foster a deep understanding of women's unique career challenges and opportunities, and help them integrate their faith and calling. Each year, I’m reminded that these next-generation leaders are walking their own version of the same path under ever-changing conditions: cultural shifts, identity pressures, vocational uncertainty, and a world that doesn’t always make room for quiet faithfulness.
What encourages me most is watching them choose courage over comfort - learning that leadership rooted in dependence on Jesus is leadership that lasts. They’re discovering that being bold for Jesus isn’t about having all the answers, but about walking faithfully even when the path gets covered in snow and the next steps are unclear.
When I see these students wrestle with calling, surrender, and purpose, I see glimpses of James 1 lived out. They’re learning perseverance, and they remind me that dependence isn’t seasonal; it’s a lifelong discipline.
Every season tests our leadership in new ways. Sometimes it’s a fierce headwind that demands resilience. Other times, it’s a stretch of stillness that tests our patience and humility. But the principle is the same: conditions change, the path remains.
I’ve led through seasons of great clarity and through others clouded with uncertainty. Both have formed me. The clear seasons build momentum; the uncertain ones build maturity. And both remind me that my confidence can’t rest in the condition of the path—it has to rest in the One who called me to walk it.
Leadership, faith, and life aren’t about avoiding the wind. They’re about learning to walk with Jesus through every season—and discovering that dependence is where courage is born.
