There’s this scary intermission I’m living in right now. I’ve just graduated high school and now I’m off to college…three hours from home, three hours from everything I’ve ever known. And if I’m being completely honest, I don’t feel ready at all. I’m nervous and scared that college will be too hard or that I’ll flunk out or that I won’t be successful in life. I’ve just finished a time when I had to ask my teachers to use the restroom, and now I’m expected to start being an “adult” (whatever in the world that means). I keep wanting to plan my future and make sure that I can provide for myself and my future family.
However, I have seen the effects of this manner of thinking. My little anxieties surrounding college turn into larger, more paralyzing anxieties about life in general. It’s a death spiral. And if you’re anything like me (a professional planner and worrier), you’re probably anxious as well. No matter what stage of life you’re in, thoughts of the future can be terrifying. However, as believers, we are called to a much more satisfying and abundant life in Jesus. That’s why it is imperative for us to seek Him in the Scriptures about what to do in these vulnerable moments:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26-27, ESV)
God plainly tells us not to worry about things to come. He has promised us that He will provide for us. We are exactly where God wants us in all situations. It may not always be in the way that we want, but it is always in the way that will satisfy our needs and ultimately glorify Himself.
For me, it does not always come naturally for me to remember God’s plans and promises for me. Now more than ever, I see the things around me changing and I worry to no end. Ultimately, I know that whatever comes, I will glorify and praise the Lord as He carries me through this life.
As I go through this time I ask that God reminds me of His steadfastness and His promises. I pray that I glorify Him in the situations and places in which He places me.
Madison Hanback is a freshly minted high school graduate from Nashville, ready to pursue a college degree at the University of Tennessee. When she’s not studying to be an engineer, you can find her hilariously jamming out to Christian top charters with her ukulele or dreaming of being an overseas missionary.
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