Let’s trust God with our question mark.

I never thought I would graduate in a global pandemic. 

I always imagined my senior year ending with a memorable graduation ceremony, a large crowd cheering for us as we tossed our caps into the air and jumped into a future of countless job opportunities and exciting plans to look forward to. 

But instead, I totally graduated over a Zoom call, and I anti-climactically stood up in my living room in front of Chinese takeout as they sent the seniors off into the unknown. 

This scene did not match up with my imagination. 

I’ve talked with many people who just graduated and most of them are confused, jobless, and scared. It’s a time where opportunities are being delayed, and many of us don’t know what the future holds. 

We are sitting in a big question mark. 

WE ARE SITTING IN A BIG QUESTION MARK

That’s how I feel, at least. I feel like there is this HUGE question mark, and I am just sitting on it, totally hanging out, just waiting for clarity to come. I’m sitting in a place where nothing feels certain at all. 

This is a time of uncertainty. Many of us don’t know what our future holds. Many of us don’t have jobs. And many of us don’t know where we are going to live for the rest of our twenties. A lot of us are still living with our parents when we thought we’d already be living in this upscale apartment in a brand new city, meeting new people every day. 

And yet. We stay in the question mark. 

HOW TO TRUST GOD IN THE QUESTION MARK

Here’s the thing: I find it incredibly easy to trust God when things are going amazing. When I do have the job lined up. Or when I am dating someone who is marriage-material. Or when I have a “plan” in place. 

But although in those places I am trusting Him, my trust for Him might only come from already knowing the plan. It is much harder to trust God with the unknown than with the known. 

IT IS MUCH HARDER TO TRUST GOD WITH THE UNKNOWN, RATHER THAN THE KNOWN

This might be a hard time to graduate, and a hard time to be a human being. But it is a GREAT time to trust God. 

We need to trust God with our stories. We need to trust that He is going to provide. And we have to trust that through it all, He is good.

WE NEED TO TRUST THAT HE IS GOOD

In order to trust God with our lives, we have to trust that He is good. We will not be able to turn our lives over to someone who we aren’t sure has our best intention in mind. But when we look to God as a Father, who loves His children, we can trust that He will give us good things. We can trust He will lead us to GOOD places, not doomsday. 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”(Matthew 7:7-12)

So when we are thinking if we should trust God with this terrifying time in our lives, we also need to take into consideration the goodness of God. We need to remember that He longs to give His children good things. 

TRUST, AND KEEP THE PACE

Today I saw a beautiful picture of trusting God on my way to Trader Joe’s. 

There was this dude, and he was on an intense run, but he was running on the median of the intersection. I thought that was so odd because there was clearly a running path not too far away. But instead, this guy was running on the grass on the median, while cars drove fast around him on all sides. Yet, he kept running, and he kept the pace.

I think we are all in the median right now, we aren’t even running on a “path”, all we see is patchy grass and chaos coming at us from all sides.

Yet, we can trust that even in the chaos, and even though we don’t see the path, we can keep moving. And we can keep trusting that God is going to lead us exactly where we are meant to be. 

So friend, I know life is crazy. And I know it might not all make any sense. But even through the uncertainty, and even in your question mark, you can trust that He is guiding your path. He has your best intention in mind. And he loves you. And no matter what you are running to, you can trust that it is good.

How are you trusting God with your question mark? Comment below!