Dear Diary, When I Grow Up

Transcript:

4-25-95

Dear Diary,

I’m going to be grade 4, Cat’s gr. 3 & Isang’s Gr.1.

You know when I grow up I want to be a doctor but I like art, singing, dancing & sometimes writing. I wish I know.

End transcript.

Don’t we all wish the same?

Don’t we all wish we knew our purpose?

That doesn’t change as we grow older.

I have wanted to be a pediatrician for as long as I can remember. Then I got to high school and found out that I didn’t like science. I got A’s in those classes, but only because I did extra credit. Science didn’t come naturally to me and the hard work wasn’t worth it in my opinion. I wasn’t going to go through years and years of science classes in college.

Just before senior year started, I heard God call me into the ministry. And I thought I knew exactly what my future held. No more wishing. No more guessing. No more coasting around hoping for my purpose to reveal itself like a late surprise birthday party.

If I know anything now, it’s this. God cannot be contained. He is much bigger than anything. Ever. He is more awesome than we can comprehend. Therefore, when He calls us into any ministry, we still don’t have a complete picture of His plans. We have glimpses. We have five stepping stones ahead of us to follow plus a gazillion more we cannot see.

Life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. Today I still wish I know what I’ll be when I grow up. Oh, I am a writer. I am in the ministry. I have my purpose, but not all of it.

I’m still growing, as are you, into the person God created me to be. We’re not finished until He calls us home, so while here on Earth, we grow. We continue to grow by His grace and mercy, in His love and purpose.

His purpose for you when you were in your twenties may be different in your thirties. It may change in your forties and again and again as you grow older and enter new seasons of life.

That’s why sometimes I still wish I know what I’ll be when I grow up, but that’s just me being curious and…alright, maybe being a little bit of a control freak.

That’s why I hold onto the Word of God:

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 hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

Whatever we turn out to be as we grow older, as long as we stay on the Lord’s path, it will be good.