When you first enter college it feels like a never-ending season—as if those four years will last forever. Graduation seems a lifetime away as your attention narrows in on classes, organizations, and new relationships.

Then one day you find yourself walking across a stage to receive your diploma, and all of a sudden you are uprooted from the place that has become your home and the people who have turned into your family. The future has never seemed so overwhelmingly grand and unknown as you step into a new career, city, marriage, or whatever change encompasses this overall new season of life.

For me, this new season began with moving back home, watching friends get married, and starting a career I did not feel confident about. Nothing turned out the way I thought it would. In my head, I assumed I would leave small town Clemson and head to a booming city where I would set out on an adventure of meeting new people and working in a field that I passionately resonated with. And trust me, I tried to make my plans for the future become reality, but doors shut and more realistic opportunities presented themselves leaving me to somewhat reluctantly accept. I found myself disoriented, dissatisfied, and somewhat disappointed with my new reality.

“I found myself disoriented, dissatisfied, and somewhat disappointed with my new reality.”

There have been times when I allowed this transition to consume my perspective. In the moment I could only see my circumstances and how the plans I had constructed in my mind did not match the reality in which I was living. There have been days I have battled fear, anxiety, self-pity, and numerous emotions that arose from a lack of faith in how God is working in my life. How could it possibly be God’s plan for me to move back in with my parents, work for my sister, and fail to achieve any of the aspirations I had set for myself? I’m still figuring that out, but I’m confident God is teaching me to be content in any and every situation and to trust Him even when I cannot understand how He is working. I believe it has to do with Jesus loving me enough not to give me what I want but what I need—and I need more of Him. Ultimately, I took my eyes off of Christ and sought comfort in controlling my future (which never goes well). Instead of recognizing the copious amount of blessing the Lord has poured out on me, I allowed myself to be distracted by comparison, which truly is the thief of joy.

It has been a few months now since leaving school and there are still many uncertainties that consume this season, but that uncertainty has taught me to cling to a few truths: God promises to be with us always. He promises to never leave nor forsake us. He promises to work all things together for the good of those who love Him. (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:5, Romans 8:28)

“I believe it has to do with Jesus loving me enough not to give me what I want but what I need—and I need more of Him.”

Through this season of change I am reminded that God often has to dislodge us from our comfort so that we can grow in our dependence on Him. The process of dislodgement may be uncomfortable, disheartening, and even painful at times, but there is a purposeful pruning and molding that is taking place for my good and His glory. In every season the Lord is at work, even the ones that take us off guard and lead us to a place we never thought we would find ourselves. I’m reminded the key is to keep my eyes on Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so that I have an eternal perspective that provides strength to walk through current circumstances. I’m continuously learning life is full of unknowns, but in the midst of the unknown is Jesus, and He is the one constant that provides peace, hope, and joy and ultimately is the only source in which my soul finds rest and contentment. I have no idea what the future looks like, but I know I want to lay my plans at His feet so that I may freely and joyfully follow wherever Christ leads. Thank goodness my plans didn’t work out because His have been so much greater.