Sometimes in life God can give us the desires of our heart to show the plans He has for us are so much better. As a senior in high school, I found myself researching universities that seem to fit me and I was bombarded with questions cornering me to chose a career and the many sacrifices to get there. After hours and days of watching videos, reading blogs, researching career paths, my mind was so ready for me to just chose one path so I land on Exercise Science and Nutrition at Appalachian State University. It is a perfect fit for my natural passions, it aligns with experiences and things I naturally love to learn about. App State has an amazing hometown feel, outstanding academic programs, phenomenal professors, the people are overwhelmingly welcoming. The scenery in Boone is breathtaking and I just could not wait to move into my first apartment. At this time in my life, this was my dream. I now had my whole college career planed out and knew exactly how it was going to happen. How often do we pray to ask God what His plans for our life are, but rather end up telling Him our plan instead?
“But God, I researched it.”
“But God, so and so has been there for a year and they’re a child of God and they’re clearly in Your will so that means I will too.”
“But God, did you see the location of my apartment and how perfect it was?”
“But God, do you know how fun football games are?”
“But God, everything is lining up perfectly, it’s everything I have ever wanted!!”
“But God…”
God is a good listener, but that does not mean we should constantly run our mouths to Him trying to tell Him what is best for us. God is genuinely so much better than we can imagine, which means the plans He has for us are the same way. He loves us too much to leave us as ordinary and have us live ordinary lives. If only you knew how much I had my life planned out and in my mind it was the most flawless version of perfect! Every day I would thank God for letting me have the most amazing roommate, and go to the best university because to me it was perfect. Coming into the second semester I start to realize the life I was living was a mess. I start to realize, I am sleeping three hours a night because I am up reading, studying, but not receiving the grades I was working for. I was working a job that was very familiar yet it was creating so much unnecessary stress. Thankfully, I am blessed with the parents who let me grow and learn on my own but still know the voice of God. From the outside looking in, they were able to see God’s grace had lifted from the season of life in which I was living. Super often in life we can get caught up in the whirlwind of life and forget to take a step back to see if this is still where God wants us.
Following the wisdom of my parents, and God’s grace I decided to leave my ‘dream school’ and follow God’s will into The World Race. There are times I do not want to go, because of the big life events I will miss out on of the people I love most. In those moments I have to remind myself that God does not call us to be comfortable, rather to trust Him especially when we do not want to. Although, other days I am absolutely ecstatic to travel the world loving on people because He first loved us. Thank you for taking interest in coming along with me!
