So often, it feels as though there's a constant pressure to achieve and to thrive and to make it look as though we constantly have it all together. People always ask, "What's next?" "What do you think you want to do with that major?" or, "What can you even DO with that?" or "How are you working to make a better future for yourself? Your kids? Your spouse? Your family?". In reality, we're all trying our hardest to navigate, to work through those questions ourselves, to push through day by day, to keep our heads above the water. Amidst busy lives, the desires and needs of families, classes, homework, jobs, or health concerns, it becomes increasingly easy to believe the lies that we're not doing enough, not being enough, not performing to the caliber that we should be. We're told that we need to have our next five steps figured out so that we can make the next ONE easier....but I think this isn't the kind of life we're called to.

Recently, I have found so much freedom in knowing that God's ways are SO much higher than mine. I have found freedom in knowing that it is okay to NOT have all the answers, to NOT have it all figured out--because it requires me to lean fully and trust faithfully in the only One who does. For the one seeking perfection, for the one who is stressed out, tired, uncertain, unsure, or feeling unequipped to deal with the extreme and utter messiness that is this life: You Are Not Alone. Here are a few verses to calm an anxious heart.

Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I created you, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations--that's what I had in mind for you."

Jesus not only knows all about you, but He has a plan laid out for you. And this plan, as He says, isn't just a simple one. It isn't just a mundane one. It's a big and beautiful masterpiece, a bold and thought out treasure.

Psalm 107: 29-30: " 'LORD, help!' They cried in their trouble...He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed."

God doesn't sleep through your storms. He stills the storms to whispers, hushes the waves of the sea. He has control over EVERY aspect of this earth (even the wind and the waves)...don't you believe that He knows how to take care of you, too? In this big world, it is easy to feel small, and yet we are still so cherished and important in His eyes. If He can still the waves, just imagine what He can do for your troubles and for your heart. He is near to you in these times of turmoil, of chaos, of trouble. In those moments of uncertainty, He's not sleeping, He's not dormant. He's beside you, and He's making a way.

2 Corinthians 4: 7-10: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."

Do not lose heart. As this says, we have been called to face trials in this life...trials that will test us and bend us and try to strike us down, but never break us. These trials are ultimately for His glory and His goodness. For verses like this, I always refer back to the song "Blessings" by Laura Story--what if His blessings and His mercies really do come through raindrops, tears, trials, and sleepless nights? How much more confidently and freely could we walk through those difficulties? And how many more times would we have focused on HIM in the face of those trials, rather than on those trials themselves? We are free, indeed. And we are never alone. He is working all of these things towards a greater purpose.

1 Peter 5:7: "Cast all anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

To put it simply and sweetly, He cares. He's not a God who brings us to trials simply to watch us suffer, but rather a God who loves us so much that He craves for us to bring our cares and our worries to Him--to lean on Him and then watch those worries be transformed and redeemed. Bring all of those things to the table. Bring them to His feet. He loves you and cares for you more than you'll ever know.

Isaiah 43:19: "For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a path in the wilderness and rivers in the dry wasteland."

Even in the most desolate of situations, He is present, His love and faithfulness abounding. He is already working to make that path clear to you, already seeking to give you a way through it. Sometimes it just takes tuning in. Sometimes it simply takes trusting in Him to fulfill those promises, of handing over the control and throwing up hands in exasperation and overturning control and saying "I can't do this, but You can."

My friend, I hope you don't go through this life like a hamster on a wheel. I hope you don't turn on the auto-pilot. I hope you don't live in constant anxiousness, fear, or stress. We are called to live lives of abundance (John 10:10), and to know and to trust that He is with us through every toil and trial. Even when you feel alone, I hope you trust in Him. I hope you turn it all over to Him....and I hope you get to watch Him make a way in this wilderness, make streams in this wasteland, still the storms to whispers and the waves to silence. You are enough. You are worthy. You are covered, you are loved, and you are not alone.