remaining faithful in the unknown

Sitting in the holding room prior to walking across the stage for my college graduation, I, along with 40 of my fellow Marketing students, discussed our post-graduation plans.  Of the 40, I’d generously estimate that 30 of us were still unemployed.  Finding a job as a new graduate is a difficult task to begin with, but add on a terrible economy and a degree concentration that provides you with “an endless selection of career paths”, and you’ve got yourself a stressful and trying situation.  I was excited about the “endless selection of possibilities” when I first decided to study marketing, but the reality of my choice was an entirely different, and overwhelming, situation.

Weeks prior to graduation, I spent night after night searching career sites, applying for positions, writing cover letters and follow up responses.  I even began taking career aptitude tests thinking that maybe marketing wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing.  Maybe the reason I couldn’t find a job was because God didn’t want me to be a marketing professional.  I think that thought goes right along with the philosophy of: if you’re out of laundry detergent, God just doesn’t want you to do laundry.  But time after time, marketing came up as the job most compatible with my skill set and personality. A solid confirmation that God’s plans are sovereign.

So there I was, sitting in a room about to graduate from college, ready to move back home with my parents and find a part time retail job until something better came along, and the only thought that brought me peace was to remember: God is sovereign and fully in control.

I think God gives us situations like this for a reason. It’s a season of growth.  These seasons of uncertainty require us to trust in his plan with 100% confidence.  Sure, it’s easy to sit around and worry, complain, and panic at the uncertainty of your future.  But there is no comfort or peace to be found in those thoughts.

Each day when I called my mom in a panic, she would remind me that we serve a powerful and sovereign God.  He had a plan for Abraham and Isaac, he had a plan when Moses arrived at the Red Sea, he had a plan for me to be born, and he has a plan for my future.  God doesn’t just forget about his children.  He has a plan for each and every one of us. 

During these conversations, my mom would pray this verse over me:

”Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

At the end of each day, I would pray for peace and for patience.  I prayed that God would continue to remind me of his faithfulness and give me courage to remain confident in his sovereignty. I prayed that God would help me to see these seasons of change and uncertainty as blessings, not curses.  And what do you know, after a few weeks of prayer and uncertainty, I received a call for an interview, which resulted in a job offer. A fabulous job offer.

God is sovereign, all the time.

My prayer is that I would never forget God’s faithfulness.  I pray that in every season of my life, I would remain steadfast in the knowledge that God is in complete control.  His plan is bigger and better than anything I could come up with on my own, and I am so grateful that he never gives up on me.