The Lord has been teaching me so much since this time last year. It started with the questioning of what to do with my career since I just graduated college. In my journal that I kept while in Thailand, I made a list of “options” having to do with my degree. That list includes nine different routes I could take. It may seem great to have a great list of options, but sometimes that is hard too; I can’t decide what to do! So I spent time last summer journaling my thoughts about each option: what I would be doing, pros, cons, and my general thoughts on each. It was great working through that but here I am, one year later, completely lost. It is August 4th and I have no idea what my future holds. I plan to graduate with my Master’s in December, but anything can change. What the Lord has taught me in the last year is the only thing that I can hold onto during this time. He has been teaching me that I am His child, that He cares for me, and that He wants the best for me. Here is Scripture that He used to speak to me: Genesis 2-3: God refrained from giving Adam and Eve certain knowledge (from the Tree of Life) because it was best for them not to know. It is best for me not to know every detail of my future. Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Wouldn’t it make sense to believe this about God when He just rescued His people from Egypt? He is going to take care of me, even when I have trials. He will fight for me. Psalm 139:16 “in your book were written, every one of them, the days were formed for me, when as yet there was one of them.” Even before my parents knew of me, when I was still in my mother’s womb, the Lord was already showing His care for me. My life began in the womb and God had already laid out its course. Can’t I trust Him that He knows what He is doing? Matthew 6:26 “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?” God takes care of the birds. He feeds them, knows what is best for them. Jesus says I am worth more than birds, so if the lesser is true, isn’t the greater also? Luke 11:9-13 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who seeks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” My parents care for me and know what’s best for me. Wouldn’t my heavenly Father know what’s best for me too? Even more so than my parents? He will give me what I ask for according to His plans, which are better than I can imagine. Luke 12:28 “But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you!” Think about grass and how quickly it fades. Doesn’t God care for me more than grass? Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” God’s purpose is bigger and better than I can imagine! Wouldn’t He know what’s good for me, for my sanctification and His greater purpose? Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” What would seem like best would be for God to spare His Son. But it wasn’t for our best. What is best for us was that Jesus would die so we could spend eternity in heaven. I can trust that God will fulfill His promises. I know that there are countless more verses that prove God’s faithfulness and the fact that He cares for us. But the Lord has been teaching me through the above verses that He is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31). He wants what is best for me, which is already planned out for His purpose. What I am anxious about the most right now is my future. It is going to be better than my dreams because He promises it will be! In Christ, Christine ><>