Hey guys! I have some deeper thoughts to share today, and hopefully you can follow pretty well and get something out of them :). Over the past few months, through the wisdom of several other people, God's been changing the way I look at my future - He's taken some of the guessing out, and replaced it with His peace. I have several friends who are trying to figure out what God's plan for them is as far as careers, college, or even dating goes, and I thought this might help anybody who's struggling with the same decisions or worries about their future.
The future can be exciting, but it can also be scary. Simply because nobody knows what's in the unknown, and so much of it is out of our control. Or, in the case of careers, college, dating, and other life-changing decisions, because so much of it IS in our control, and we frankly aren't sure what to do with this new responsibility! I get that so much! While it's not urgent pressure quite yet, I still like to know what's coming, and I sometimes wish I had the answers.
Back up to about four months ago...
I had a vague dream about how I wanted my future to go. It wasn't very specific, but it was exciting to think about. I'd always end my ideas with, "But, of course, whatever God wants..." but to be honest, I didn't really consider the fact that God might actually have other plans, haha!
Then I started questioning. What if God DOES have something else? What if I don't go to college, and I miss out on something? Or what if I don't get married young like I had dreamed about? How on earth could my future be exciting at all if what I want doesn't happen?
During the questions, God gave me a quote to hang onto and reshape my dreams to:
Wait for God's best.
To be honest, this isn't the most fun answer, because it means you have to wait. BUT, I firmly believe that God works amazing things if you're willing to wait for them! So what does this really mean?
It means deciding that I'm going to let go of the responsibility of making all the decisions for my future and take it one day at a time. My job right now (besides school haha) is to chase God, and God alone. To chase His will for my life. To chase growth in Him. If I start getting distracted from that, and start chasing these other dreams and trying to make them happen all by my own power, it will all start falling apart. But if I wait for His Best in all those other areas, in school, careers, my future marriage, all of it, and focus on chasing His Will day to day, I believe He'll start bringing the right things into my life at the right time. And if I'm focusing on being in the word and handing life over to Him through prayer, I definitely believe I'll be able to recognize what His Best is.
Accepting that has brought a crazy amount of peace, and a crazy amount of purpose. Instead of spending all my mental energy trying to earn attention or opportunities from things God hasn't placed in my life yet, I've been able to pour into the people and things He HAS put into my life. I've seen special friendships bloom beautifully because I took the time to put all my focus on THEM instead of something else. I'm starting to see my relationship with God bloom all the more, too, because I'm throwing myself into a pursuit of Him instead of a pursuit of what the world says is important.
The Bible says to
"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matt. 6:33, ESV)
Hopefully y'all were able to get something out of that, and it wasn't too scattered, haha! Ultimately, I'm encouraging you to be willing to wait. God's got so much for us to throw ourselves into right now, and if we just commit ourselves to waiting for His Best in career opportunities, in dating, and even to some extent in college, we'll find so much more satisfaction and peace in life :). The most important part of all this is our calling to chase God first and foremost, and constantly be in His word and in prayer. That's the only way we'll be able to recognize what His Best really is :).
P.S. Read here (please please! It's so good!) - it's where I got the phrase "God's Best" and what set me thinking on this whole track :). Shout out to MK - you're where I get a lot of my inspo! Thanks for blogging, girl! So much good stuff! The link will take you to her blog.
Love.
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