There comes a time in every young adult's life when they must decide who they want to be.
For years, you have been at the mercy of your parents and family. They told you how you could and could not dress. They told you what you could and could not listen to or watch. They told you what you could and could not believe. All of these, for me at least, have helped shape me and help guide me away from ways that could’ve harmed me, and that’s great. But, now I am at a point where I need to make the rules and decide who I need to be. More importantly, I am trying to discover who God needs me to be.
I love my parents and all the rules and limits they placed on me my whole life; I wouldn’t be who I am without them. However, I don’t want to be that raised child anymore. I want to be a woman. A woman who makes strategic choices about life and who prayerfully makes decisions to allow God to work in her. I don’t know if you resonate with this, but if you are a Christian young adult I hope you can. Life can get hard sometimes and mom and dad won’t always be there to catch us when we fall, nor should they be. It’s time for tough love. It time to grow up.
When I left for my first year of college, I was so excited. I loved school for the first two months, also known as the “extended summer camp” phase. Everyone is new; you want to get to know all the girls on your floor and you are all fighting over which dorm has the hottest guys and you dress in your class color for homecoming. It’s a blast.
Then, life gets real and it gets hard. All of sudden all I wanted to do was curl up with my mom and a good movie and be done with college -- it was hard. I was being asked to confront issues I did not want to face to schedule my own time and it really rattled me. I knew how “High School Heidi” would have reacted, but was that how I wanted “College Heidi” to react?
God is a funny guy, y'know? He works in some really interesting ways, but they are always good. This year I encountered Him in a very real way as I was trying to decide who I wanted to be. I realized that who I wanted to be needed to come second to who God wants me to be, but here is where the funny part happened: As I got into the Word and tried to see God’s Will, the Lord showed me that who I wanted to be wasn’t too far off from who God wanted me to be.
See, God puts the desires and passions in your heart that fuel things like what to major in, who to befriend, how to act and how you make decisions. A lot of times, the way to discover how best to please the Lord and be who He desires you to be is to listen to your heart. Go deeper into the things that make your heart beat a little faster and cause you to care. That’s the Lord leading your heart.
When I told my mom that I wanted to major in psychology to one day give therapy to people who need it, I also told her that I was scared that I wasn’t smart enough and that I was terrified of what the future might hold. She said, “Heidi, I love you and I believe that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you put your mind to. Ultimately though, it is up to you. I’ll tell you this, God gave you this passion and love for people, so why would He not equip you to do the job?”
In that moment I had to decide a few things. Did I want this? Could I see myself doing it? Because this was my life I was building. Not my mom's or my dad's or my family’s. It was mine. This is going to keep happening. I am going to have to decide what I believe and discern what the Lord’s Will is for my life. It will never get easier, but with practice and lots of prayer, I think I’m on track to becoming a pretty rockin’ awesome adult and that’s only because I have the God of the universe ordaining my destiny.
That’s all it takes, guys -- practice, time and prayer. So, let’s grow up and become the best adults we can be.
