Sometime this past September, not long after beginning my first college semester, I attended a church service with a few friends. In this service, the pastor talked repeatedly about our dream for our lives and about God’s dream for our lives. Near the end of the sermon, he asked the congregation to close their eyes and try to listen for God’s voice and his dream for them. If anyone heard this dream, they were encouraged to write it down on a whiteboard off to the side.
Regardless of my opinion on the sermon, I did try to listen to God’s voice. Though, to be honest, I already knew what he wanted of me, but it was in that moment that I finally acknowledged it.
Every thought in my head came back to the word "wait." Whatever place I wanted to visit, whatever class I wanted to take, whatever career I wanted to pursue, all that became clear was that I was to wait. I have thought on this countless times over the last three months. My mind no longer focuses on the word "wait" but on the passage in Exodus 14:4 which says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”
I am aware that this passage emphasizes a sort of battle being fought, and the path we walk may not be a fight, but it is still a matter that we need to give to the Lord. We can do nothing to change the plan that God has already put into place. What we can do is remain still, letting him work through us and in us. As a student, and a young one, I have been asked repeatedly what I want to do with my life. When so many others have plans for their future, it’s hard to believe that blindly moving forward is acceptable. Regardless of what has been drilled into your head from birth, you don’t need to have a plan, and you don’t need to understand exactly how your future will go. Why? Because God has that part covered.
We are not called to worry or to stress. We are called to stand still, trusting that God has a plan and what he has planned is ultimately the best possible outcome. It’s tough to believe that we don’t need to know everything when we are so aggressively taught that we do. Regardless of what you assume and what others assume, not having a plan is okay. If you are content with your situation and trust that the Lord will take care of you, you will find peace, and, in my experience, contentment and peace are much more desirable than stress and worry.
“’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 a hope and a future.’” -Jeremiah 29:11
