I have asthma, so I could never run as fast or as far as my classmates. But I’m also a bit stubborn, so I found a running sport that I exerted myself in: Sprints. I didn’t have to run far. I just had to run very fast in a short distance, and then use my inhaler.
As a freshman in high school, I was recruited to try out for Sprints in Track and Field. At the same time, I applied for a job teaching elementary kids in an after school program. I couldn’t do both. I was never good at sports so I never thought I could make it into a team. I’ve tried and failed, so to be recruited made me feel more than the asthmatic kid in class.
But my school required community service hours from the students, and I was told I could waive the job’s salary in lieu of volunteer hours. I chose the job. In the end, I wasn’t able to waive the salary and had to find other ways to volunteer, but another door opened to me because of that job: Children’s Ministry.
I wasn’t allowed to volunteer with the Children’s Ministry because I didn’t have experience working with kids. The job gave me that experience and I’ve been in kidmin ever since.
Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had chosen to try out for Track and Field. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made the team, but trying out would mean I wouldn’t have gotten the job either. I wouldn’t have gotten the experience. I wouldn’t have joined the ministry, and everything else that has happened wouldn’t have happened.
Or would it have?
Sometimes I wonder if it was God directing my ways to choose the job. Sometimes I wonder if He would have done something else to get me in the ministry if I had chosen sports. I only wonder sometimes because it’s fun to play around with What If scenarios, and because I am sure of this one thing.
Whatever could have happened to me before, and whatever will happen to me now and tomorrow, I will be okay because my life is in God’s hands.
A friend once said she liked traveling with me because I’m decisive. Usually, when a group of us gathers without a plan, we’d spend so long trying to figure out where to go or what to eat. Meanwhile, I can pretty much make snap decisions, and I do believe it’s because I’ve been single for all this time. When I go out or travel, it’s easy to just pick something and go for it.
But when it comes to life decisions, I freeze. A pastor prayed over me once and he said God’s telling me to stop worrying and just DO. It was so on point because I am paralyzed by What If scenarios if I’m not looking at them with 20/20 hindsight vision. What if I pick the wrong thing and ruin my life? What if I do the wrong thing and disappoint everyone?
It takes conscious effort to remind myself that I am in God’s hands and I will be okay.
I love how The Message translates Jeremiah 29:10-11:
This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Here’s a quick backstory. God’s people were in exile, and God decreed they will be in exile for 70 years. God told them to live, prosper, and thrive right where they are, in exile in Babylon. After 70 years, God will bring them home.
We’re all taught to weigh the consequences of our actions. It’s hard, then, not to be consumed by what could happen if we choose wrong. It would be so much easier if we can skip the decision-making process and just be where we’re supposed to be.
Life doesn’t happen that way, and the beauty of placing our lives and trust in God’s hands is that whatever we decide (as long as it’s not a constant decision to turn away from God), we will arrive exactly where God intended us to be.
All we have to do is live, prosper, and thrive right where we are. Continue to do our best. Continue to trust God. Continue to follow His ways. Continue to be faithful. And God will take care of the rest in His perfect timing.
What choices are you facing today?
Linking up with Holley’s Coffee for Your Heart
Wonderful post! It is easy to dwell on what ifs both in the past and the future. I love how you shared the promise that everything will be OK because we are in God’s hands. Whenever I worry about the future, I try to remind myself- how many times before has God made things work out for me?
I remind myself of the same thing, Kelsey! I think about how far God has taken me, how I’m not where I used to be and that’s not because of my own strength (in hard times, I can hardly find any strength in me), but it’s because of God’s strength and love.
This was a great post, and I have definitely found myself in the position of wondering if I was making the decision that God was calling me to or not. It can be hard to realize that we need to give up control because it’s all in His hands. But he doesn’t just have a plan for us for tomorrow, or the next month, or the next year. He has a plan for our whole lives, and it is our job to follow, believe, and do His works 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Giving up control or letting go and trusting God has definitely been a theme in my life lately. Thanks for visiting, Alisa!