The following is a guest post by Victoria of Through*For*By

When I was growing up, I expected to have my life come together by the time I was 23.

In my mind, this meant that I would be established and would know exactly what I was doing and everything would make sense. I don’t know why I had that age in mind, but I thought and lived as though that was the goal.

By the winter of my 20th year, I realized that things were not going as I had planned. After that I spent several years wrecked by the uncertainty that was defining my life. I had been doing everything right. I wasn’t going into debt, I was working really hard to do well in college, I was serving God by taking advantage of every opportunity to minister to those around me, and I was looking to the future with hope in His will for my life.

From my point of view, it seemed as though nothing was being established.

The cycle of being a faithful Christian and a wise woman weren’t making jobs fall into my lap or making me cross paths with the Mr. Right that I thought I was supposed to end up marrying. Full fledged “adulthood” was approaching and the panic of not knowing what I was supposed to do next was pressing in.

I was following God, but things weren’t happening like I thought they would. I didn’t know how to go on from there.

My situation is not unique. Nearly all of you have faced, are facing, or will face the uncertainty that comes when you get to point in your life where you find yourself desperately clueless.

When you get to that point, “Now what?” is the only thing on your mind. Our 20s are the first time in our lives when “the next thing” isn’t defined by some societal norm. You may not land a job that has a lifetime career attached to it. You may not meet “the one” and end up married with a plan for the next 10 years. You may end up lost, confused, and convinced that you took a wrong turn.

Things don’t always work out how we thought they would or how we thought God “told” us they would, but navigating our 20s teaches us how to navigate the rest of our lives.

While I would have preferred to be all established at 23, the lessons I’ve learned (and continue to learn) in the first half of my 20s were (and are) all worth learning.

I got to my 20s walking with God and yet these years have taught me how to walk with Him.

At 25, my life is still taking shape. I’m no one’s wife or mother and I don’t have a label for myself other than “servant of God”, but my 20s have taught me to truly trust Him. Things don’t always work out how we thought they would or how we thought God “told” us they would, but navigating our 20s teaches us how to navigate the rest of our lives.

“I don’t have a label for myself other than ‘servant of God’.”

When the uncertainty hits, when the panic sets in, when you find yourself at the end of everything that made sense and you begin to ask, “Now what?”, look for one thing to do next.

Don’t worry about a 5 year or 10 year or 20 year plan.

Don’t worry about impressing those around you.

Step back and look for one way to be faithful to God.
It might be something small and unseen or it might be something HUGE and world changing, either way the key is to keep following God.

Take the jobs you can, introduce yourself to people, and look for ways to minister to those around you, but don’t get so caught up trying to figure life out and make something of yourself that you miss out on what’s most important.

Be faithful, be wise, seek God’s will. Life might not look exactly like you thought it would. When you decide that that’s okay, you’ll find yourself being established in God’s will for you life and that’s exactly what you are hoping for all along.


circled+profile+oct+2+2013Victoria blogs over at Through * For * By where she hopes that her readers will find something that will brighten their day, encourage their soul, and give them a reason to praise God.

You can also find her on instagramtwitter, and facebook.

7 thoughts on “What to do when your life plan isn’t going as planned.

  1. Southern Gal

    You are a wise woman, Victoria. So many question God’s will for their lives. He asks us to be obedient right where we are, to follow Him and to give Him glory. You’re doing just that. Beautiful.

  2. Rach

    Yes! I love this, Victoria! All so true. It sounds simple, but living life this way can be so difficult. You are such a beautiful example of a servant of God!

    1. Victoria

      Rach, you are too sweet!!! :) You know allll about why it is that living this out isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Your example and faith and perseverance inspire me more than you know!

      I’m so glad that we’re in this together!!!

  3. Megan

    Thank you so much for this. I’m struggling so much with my workload this semester and find myself stressing about the future way too much.

    1. Victoria

      I’m glad this post was helpful, Megan!!! Keep working hard. I promise you that every single hour of study and every “No, I can’t, I have to study tonight” WILL pay off before you know it! And when you get to that future you’re working and stressing over, God will be there with plans for you. :)

      I’ll be praying for you!

    1. Victoria

      Thanks, Julie!!! There’s nothing wrong with 5/10 year plans, but giving them up (or being forced to switch gears) really does wonders for our souls! :) Our God and His plans are sooooo amazing!

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