I just recently began reading "Kisses from Katie" after a more than rewarding service trip to the South Bronx. This book is about a recent high school graduate who picks up her entire life and moves to Uganda to be the hands and feet of Christ. She, almost ten years later, has adopted fourteen children and married the man of her dreams. And I firmly believe that she is being fulfilled because she chose surrender her plans for His.

This idea of surrendering your life and plans in exchange for God's has proven to be an anything but easy feat. Giving not only your eternal life to Him, but also your life on earth isn't something that most think of. This means more than Sundays and Wednesday night bible study, but your entire existence, your today, tomorrow, and everyday after that. There is a significant difference in being on "God's path" for your life and walking in step with Him.

This being said, I think that you should look at where you are as being exactly where He wants you. When things aren't going the way that I think they should in my life I always amount to the idea that it's because I am out of sync with God and His plans for my life. However, just recently I learned that this isn't necessarily the case. Wherever you are in life is exactly where He has planned for you to be. This sounds crazy, I know but think of it this way, every single little occurrence in life teaches you something for the future. A student is told to study for an exam, but instead they binge watch three hours of Netflix, this lesson prepares them for what is to come with every test after the failure that they received on the first exam. Everything has a lesson that will prepare you for your future.

This occurred to me as I was on my mission trip this spring break. I went into the trip with the idea that God wasn’t going to use me to change the lives of the children and people that I met but instead use them to change me. I was right. Though I had been chasing after Him relentlessly, trying to see what His plans were, the clarity was never there. But I held on, I never gave up on the idea that He had something extraordinary in store for me and neither should you.

He chose me, a very confused and distant college student, to see light in a very dark place. He grabbed my hand and whispered in my soul, “where you are now, is where you going to be.” He is now molding me for a life time of sacrifices and joy as He prepares my heart to love those who have never known love. Take faith the where you are is just a stop on the path to where you're going.