As I approach the end of my undergraduate studies, I have come to one of those seasons of life where it seems as though everyone is asking me “what’s next?” After talking to a close friend who has recently gotten engaged, I have become increasingly convinced that there will be no season anywhere in the near future for me where this question will not be asked. As soon as you settle in one area of life, people will move on to asking about the next. Truth is, I have no clue what comes next. I have hopes, I have plans, but if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that my plans for my life and God’s plans for my life are rarely the same. And because I know that all things are for my good and His glory, I can breathe a big sigh of relief because I don’t have to have the answer to this question. One of my favorite authors, Jen Wilkin commented on this very topic by saying this:
“Because God holds all knowledge, we don’t have to. . . . How different my ability to learn what mattered would be if I were to calm and quiet my soul instead of subjecting it to a cacophony of articles that are must-reads and videos that promise to change my life at the 4:39 mark. How different my ability to perceive God would be if I traded mental hoarding, soothsaying, and meddling for a well-ordered, uncluttered mind. We have been given only so much mental capacity, and no more. Those who fear the Lord honor the limits he has placed on their minds, trusting what they do not, cannot, or should not know to the One who does, perfectly.”
It is so easy to think about the future and become overwhelmed with paralyzing fear. I cannot count the number of times that I have found myself trying to plot out the next five years of my life only to realize that I was not doing this in a manner that would bring glory to God, but in a way that was attempting to soothe my fears and account for my lack of trust in God’s plans for me. Matthew 6:25-27 speaks to this when it says “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” I don’t know what God has for my tomorrow, but I do know that he has provided for me this far, has redeemed me and continues to restore me, and has promised to never leave me or forsake me. As for today, when I give my future to God and stop worrying about it, I am free to praise Him for what He is doing right now, and live in faithfulness to what He has called me to in this present moment.
