Royal Family Tours
By: Nathan Dike
It is remarkable where He ends up leading us when we pay attention to the ways God is speaking and choose to obey. Each of our stories are so different because God doesn't write any two stories the same. He knows our end from our beginning. It's so important that we learn to:
“Trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge him, and he will make our paths straight.”
In the Passion Translation, it's translated this way:
“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart, rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.”
God literally told me to leave Ohio and move to Florida. At the time, I had no idea what He had in store for me. It wasn't the first time God had given me a clear word to transition my life in a way that was outside my comfort zone and I doubt it will be the last. There is so much waiting for us on the other side of trusting God. Looking back, I can see how God has been in it all, but in the middle of those times, it felt so uncomfortable to trust Him and let go of my own way of understanding. Thankfully though, He is patient with me and He knows where he's leading me. I mentioned His patience. I don't know how many times, I've received a clear word from God and asked for confirmation from Him again and again. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I believe God, but sometimes, I just want to be sure that I'm actually hearing correctly. Following God can feel scary, because sometimes it pushes us into places in life where we don't know what to do. Sometimes, I think God does this to remind us how much we need Him. God was patient and kept confirming to me to move to Florida. I'm so thankful for the privilege of walking in God's WORDS. He always leads us where we need to go if we will choose to give Him our yes.
God confronted me in one of those moments where I felt the fear of the Lord and his voice was unmistakably clear. He told me to walk with Him by the water and I knew he was talking about moving away. Just after this, I began receiving word after word from people I trust very much telling me that my time in Ohio was coming to an end. These were dear friends who didn't even want me to move away but told me anyway. At first I thought that was just an invitation to a general transition away from what I was familiar with and my landing place was for me to decide. I began praying about when and where I should move, and shortly thereafter, my good friend Bre invited me down to visit Orlando and mull over what God was saying. Just before that happened, the word Universal began showing up everywhere for me. The word Universal represented Florida for me. I was a bit surprised because Florida wasn't the first place I would have guessed. I thought if I was moving to Florida, it must be beside the ocean. God quickly responded to that thought that I had had of my own understanding. He began showing me the word Midland. It was remarkable how often I saw it. Midland was more specifically Orlando. It was almost funny how many times these little words and confirmations began turning up. I started finding money almost right away when I arrived in Orlando for a visit and had people offer me free things in restaurants and even on the beach. These are just a few of the ways God confirmed his Word for me.
God had shown me there would be a transition with employment as well, but I felt I should wait until I arrived and trust him. I put in a transfer with my company to work in Orlando, but I felt that God had something else for me. Only a few days after arriving, I got into a conversation with a couple in the restaurant and after a short conversation with perfect strangers, they asked me if I would consider talking to a company about a job as a tour guide. I never filled out an application. I was offered the job on the spot. It was so cool that God put a job right in front of me, but even more cool to see his plan in all of it. For years, I have had a dream of creating a job or business where I could help people travel. It's one of my passions and I'm always encouraging friends and family and even strangers to travel. I help people find cheap tickets. I talk them into going on their dream trips. Anyway, I'd even had God tell me throughout life that I would be good at it, but I had no idea whatsoever how to begin such an endeavor. I had no idea that God would give me a job I had never known to look for and train me in many things that would lead to many more things that would enable me to create this myself.
Only 3 months after moving to Orlando, the love of my life (who at the time was just this good friend I hadn't fallen for yet) moved here. I won't go into our love story too much, but as it turns out, Karina is passionate about business and is gifted and talented in many of the ways that I was not. This is where building a business would have been impossible with only my own abilities. Together we began a business helping families who are overwhelmed by the difficulties of bringing the kids to the chaotic world of Central Florida, particularly Disney and Universal. I know there are many more adventures to come, but it truly is amazing to see God's intentionality and His heart to bless His children with things that can only be attributed to His Goodness! What a great Father he is. I love Him more than words and more than gifts and more than life itself.
I know sometimes testimonies of obedience are immediate and sometimes they are over the course of our lives, but in this case, God moved me to Orlando in November of 2018 and now in September of 2020, I'm married. My wife and I have a business we named Royal Family Tours where we give private tours in Central Florida theme parks. Our website is RoyalFamilyToursVIP.com
Bless you all. We follow his paths. He is faithful to lead us and He is patient along the way.