The Knowns and the Unknowns

You know in High School when they start asking you questions like "Where are you going to be in 5 years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What are you going to be doing with your life?"

I hate those questions. No one knows where they will be 5 or 10 years from this moment. You can guess, you can imagine, you can hope... but you can't know.

I always used to irritate the teachers when I said, "I will be following God, and going wherever he leads me." Apparently it wasn't a solid enough answer for them. But in my head, I did have a thought as to what the plan would be. I am a planner, so of course I had an idea. I knew I would be following God and doing what He wanted me to do. But I also assumed I knew that that was.

If you has asked be back then, I never, EVER in my wildest imagination would have said, "In Madagascar."

And I can guarantee that if I had said that, several people would have had a good laugh, and then probably sent me to the counselor to break the news that it was never going to happen. Even when I really was getting ready to go, I would run into people from high school and they would just stare at me. Some laughed. Heck I laughed too... I mean, who knew it would really actually happen. Who knew I would really actually be here? Certainly not me.

"'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)

I feel like every Christian, and even non-Christians know that verse. Let me put it this way...

Jeremiah 29:11 is to Christian Encouragement as John 3:16 is to a Salvation Message

I am not saying these verses are bad, I just have always felt like there is the entire rest of the Bible full of amazing verses that we can sometimes forget.

That said, it's this promise that I am clinging to right now. I never dreamed I would be here. Yet I am, because God has plans for me that I do not even know about yet. I am nervous, that is for sure. This is so outside of my comfort zone. Yesterday I let myself get caught up in worry, but not today. Today I am choosing to trust God's plan for my life. He has never led me astray before, and he never will.

So off I go. From now until Sunday night I will go with the team and get the things we need for the next 5ish months of our lives. Then bright and early Monday morning we head down.

Thanks for your prayers as we travel and start the next phase of all of our lives. I am so excited to watch God's plans unfold in my life, and in the lives of others... even if it is a little scary on the "unknown" side of the plan.