My heart was pounding, and I began to feel light-headed bullet-points of statistics zipped across the power. It was my freshman year of college and I was sitting in a presentation covering the process to apply to medical school. I felt anxiety and tension filling the room as several other freshmen furiously wrote down notes. As I walked out of the lecture hall, my mind was filled with checklists of things I needed to do. It seemed like getting into medical school was going to be nearly impossible. Chemistry professors joked about how half the students in the room would end up dropping out of the pre-medical track by the end of the year. Other students seemed to be much smarter than I, with a longer list of accomplishments before they had even reached college.
On my walk back to my room, a sense of peace started to ease its way into my chaotic, thought-clouded head. I began to wonder, what if I don’t get into medical school? What if all my plans don’t work out ? I realized that no matter what happens, everything would be okay. God reminded me that He has the ultimate say in how my future would look. My identity and my worth were not in the plans I made for myself, but in Jesus who had already given me worth through the gospel.
Psalm 37:23-24 says:
23 The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
It seems pretty cliché when others tell you to “trust God with your plans” or quote verses like Jeremiah 29:11 at every life transition. But when you really begin to understand this simple truth, it brings FREEDOM. You’re free to make decisions without worrying about how it’ll mess up your perfect plans or derail your future. You’re free to enjoy the trials and challenges life brings without feeling the need to control every situation. When I accepted this, I was empowered to pour into various activities without worrying about how it would affect my resumé. Whether I would end up as a doctor, teacher, stay-at-home mom, or janitor, I knew God was going to place me right where I was meant to be. All you have to do is simply walk through doors that God opens for you along the way, and delight in the work He is doing in your life.
Reflection Questions
- What are some plans you have for yourself, and how would you react if they don’t work out?
- How does knowing that God has ultimate control affect the way you view yourself and those plans?
Written by Emmeline Qin. Artwork by Tammi Yu