Stress and Grace

As I look at the next year I have no concrete plans of where I will be or what I will be doing. I have goals, vision, motivation, reasons, passions and pursuits. Where does that play out? How does that play out? Well I don’t know. Honestly, I think that should scare me or stress me out . . . but I’m quite ok with it for now. I know what I’d like to be doing, but it is going to take God lining things up and a lot of trusting and patience on my part. I am naturally a go getter. I set an objective and I go after it with all I have until it is achieved. In pursuing opportunities in Bangladesh this has led to me going over there for a survey trip. It’s been a long time of actively waiting. Limited to email and Skype, I have had to learn to wait on and trust God. I have some ideas, some hopes, and prayers about long-term opportunities that I want God to reveal to me in January . . . but once again I’m waiting—waiting to go, waiting to meet the opportunity, waiting for the next step, more waiting. Don’t get me wrong, the waiting is not passive by any means. I have learned active waiting. There are many things I can do and have done, but after I have talked to the boards, set up the meetings, read the books, attained the skills, and so on; I still have to wait on Him.
All that to say, I have learned more about trust than I have about stress. It is sweet place to know that as I wisely and passionately pursue the things He is passionate about, He will take care of me and He will guide me. While I trust Him, He is clearing the road before me; and though at times it may be really foggy or dark and I can’t see very far in front of me, He promises to be the light for my path and that is something that brings peace. By His grace I am where I am, and by His grace I will go where He takes me and I can hardly wait to see what that looks like. In the meantime I actively wait, I take comfort in His sovereignty, I read His word and I get to know my Savior better. This is my prayer for you all as well: Know Him, love Him, trust Him for He is good.