Addison Riecke: Embracing God’s Plan for Her Life

Written by: Shaylena Marie

Photography: Courtesy of Nickelodeon

From a very young age, Addison Riecke, from Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans, has had a love and passion for acting, singing, and playing musical instruments. With the support and encouragement of her parents, this passion has been given a strong foundation to flourish. At the start of Addison’s career, her mother, Jeanine, took a leap of faith travelling from Covington, Louisiana to Hollywood, California to seek the possibilities of a career in acting for her daughter. Within just a few weeks Riecke landed a star role as Nora Thunderman on a superhero live-action comedy television series that premiered on Nickelodeon on October, 2013. This was a rare opportunity for Addison. Right before her audition for this role she had her heart set on another smaller role, but it didn’t work out.

She shares with Risen, “I was so excited about it. And the day I was going in for the director’s meeting they had changed the role to a boy. I was so heartbroken. And then the next day I got The Thundermans audition. I know that God has a plan and four seasons later I am still on that show.”

Through the experience of not getting the first role she had her heart set on, Riecke learned that sometimes the desires and plans she has may not be exactly what God has for her. This can be true for many of us. Sometimes God has a different plan that fits our needs more perfectly than what we could have imagined, but it doesn’t typically happen the way we think it will or in our timing. The things we pursue and place importance on may not be what is necessarily good for us and our future, He may just have something bigger in store. Addison shares, “What we think is important at one time, can unfold to be something incredibly more.”

Within each of our lives we have dreams and aspirations that we hope will happen someday. We may work hard to reach these goals, which is a good thing. It is definitely important to be active in pursuing our aspirations and taking responsibility in using the gifts and talents we’ve been blessed with. But at times we may find ourselves putting our dreams and goals ahead of what the Lord may have planned for us. We may not even take the time to really ask God what His will is for our lives.

This gives us a chance to sit back and reflect on our lives. Are we fully living up to our potential in what God designed us for? Or, are we taking things into our own hands and running with what our plans are while we place God in the back seat? God has such a beautiful plan for each of us. He is intricately weaving the tapestry that is our lives. It may look like a mess of threads to us because we are only seeing the back of the tapestry. Little by little God gives us glimpses of what He is creating as we surrender our will to His. Are we resting in His will? Are we continuing to be diligent with our time and efforts while patiently waiting for His timing and answers to our prayers?

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 [Bible, NIV]

Riecke shared with Risen that she knows that her identity is not in all of these exciting opportunities, but in the foundation of her faith. As a believer, she knows that God is sovereign over her life and that if these opportunities change she is still steady knowing who she is in Christ. This gives a beautiful example of how we are called to live our lives. Trusting and knowing that God has a plan and allowing Him to lead us down the journey He has for us. Giving thanks and gratitude knowing that our blessings come from God, giving Him the glory. And choosing to stand firm, allowing our hope to rest in our identity in Christ even in times of uncertainty. Within this life there will be times that the direction we think things are going changes. There may be roadblocks or times of heartache where we do not understand why a door has been closed to an opportunity. It is important in these times to take the time to rest in the Lord, trusting his Word [Bible] knowing that God always follows through on His promises and will take care of us.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19 [Bible, NIV]

Risen asked Addison, what is one way you have seen the power of prayer at work in your life whether it be personal, career or even with the charities you lend your name to?

She responded: God has really blessed me so much. And I believe it is a priority to give back to him because he has given me an incredible gift in this life. And I think that it’s important that what I do with it is my gift back to him. God is the most important thing in my life. I think it’s important that I keep him first place because he can really take me anywhere. Another one of my favorite bible verses is Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” [Bible NIV]

We’re vessels through which God can shine his light through us to show others his goodness. I think it is really important to show his goodness to others. He’s given me this gift to act and help other people in this world. And I am definitely trying to do my best to do that.

I want to say to everyone to keep your faith first place and God will take you to places you’ve never dreamed of. It’s hard sometimes if you have friends that are doing things that you don’t want to do. Or are saying things about you that you don’t want them to say about you then they are not really your friends. God puts people in your life for a reason, whether it’s to help you move on or to give you strength to bring you up. And I think it’s important to ask God if you have any problems in your life to pray about it and he will show you the right way.

Check out the full interview with Addison Riecke at www.RisenMagazine.com