Recently I was set back by a minor injury and was required to take about two months off from all physical activity. Although the injury was insignificant compared to others, any competitive athlete knows not exercising for two months is pretty major. When you have large amounts of free time, your mind starts wandering. I spent countless days sitting in my room thinking about life. More specifically what I wanted to do in life, whether I wanted to take a year off from school, if I really wanted to go back to being a competitive athlete. I had all these questions that I wanted answers to, stress I wanted to relieve. I knew nothing besides the fact that I had a hole in my heart and something was missing from my life.

I decided to join a bible study, something I had wanted to do for a while, of other student athletes at my school. There the leader shared a story of how pearls are harvested. An irritant is placed inside the clam causing it to shed tears and over time that irritant becomes a pearl. Sitting there I was reminded of something I have been taught my whole life: we are not in control, God is.

My injury was the irritant that caused me to stress and overthink what I want in life, my purpose. In reality however us humans do not have control. I can sit and think about what I want in my future: a successful job, an amazing long lasting marriage, healthy kids, happiness, the list goes on and on. We all want control of our lives; we want to feel like we are making the decisions that best suit our lives. But God has all the plans laid out for us, and he has the last say. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “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.”

All that time I sat and thought what do I want with my life (emphasis on the I). Instead, I should have been asking what does GOD want for my life. It was easy for me to lose mental sanity because I had Satan controlling my daily thoughts. But the story of the pearl reminded me to cast my worries on God and trust his plan for my life. Our daily irritants are Satan’s controlling thoughts trying to divert us from God’s purpose. But when we fully hand our daily tribulations over to God we become that beautiful pearl inside the clam.