By: Kyah C., Class of 2022
Does your day begin and end with a thorough review of your calendar of events? The busy pace of life has us syncing our work day with school schedules, our evenings are spent enjoying sporting events, our weekends are filled with plans with our family and friends, and before we know it we have booked ourselves solid for months.
Does any of this sound familiar?
I have found that even at the young age of 16, I have become dependent on planning life out and staying on a schedule. Needless to say, a global pandemic was not penciled in anywhere on my calendar!
Like most people, my 2020 plans were in the books! We were getting ready to start our varsity softball season and spring break fun was right around the corner. An anticipated CIY (Christ in Youth) conference and my very first mission trip to Zimbabwe, Africa had been on my summer schedule for months. I was so excited about God using me to serve others!
As Covid 19 took center stage on every news cast, day by day and plan by plan my calendar began being erased before my eyes. I found myself struggling to understand how to navigate life with no set schedule; and frustrated as I continually thought about all those cancelled plans and so much wasted time. I wanted God to be loud and clear about what I was to do; what should I schedule next! What plans did I need to start filling the empty squares on my calendar with? A big neon billboard with flashing lights would have been perfect! But God doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes He whispers, and in order for us to hear him we must be quiet.
When God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice, He was teaching him that his silence doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not active.
To me, canceled plans meant there was nothing for me to do. But, when my agenda was cleared, it was then that I was truly able to focus on what God needed me to hear.
I listened to a song by Jeremy Camp called “Keep me in the moment". It was one I had listened to time and time again, but this time I heard it differently. “Lord, keep me in the moment, help me live with my eyes wide open, I don’t want to miss what you have for me”.
God didn’t need me to worry about the plans of tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. He needed me to be present in this moment; to be willing to share His love with a friend who was going through a stressful time, to smile at the strangers at the park who were running a little low on hope. He needed me to write cards of encouragement, deliver meals to the elderly, and love others the way He has loved me.
Psalms 32:10 tells us that steadfast love surrounds the one who trust in the Lord.
I didn’t need to know what the future held, I needed to trust in the one that held the future.
My calendar wasn’t cleared so I’d have nothing to do, it was cleared so I would have nothing to do other than draw nearer to my Heavenly Father. As we draw near to God, we are able to hear him more clearly and God is always ready to speak to us. His written word, the Bible, are His words to us. When we struggle to understand the plan, it’s truth guides us through every circumstance we face.
We are reminded in Isaiah 55:8-9; that God's ways (His thoughts) are so much greater than ours, and His plans for me surpass any of the events my calendar holds.
Though change over the last few months hit some of us like a hurricane, none of it surprised our God. He was already there. His steadfast love and His plans are still perfect.
In the midst of it all, life had not been cancelled; friendships, loving people, serving, worship, fellowship, none of these things were cancelled at all... it was simply a change of plan!
Kyah recently delivered treat bags which included hand written cards of encouragement for some of the youth in her Seekers life group reminding them to stay strong (and where that strength comes from). Psalm 121:1