I’ve always been one who seemed to have every single detail of my life figured out.

In high school, I filled my life with absolutely no free moment; participating in any and every extracurricular I could. I had each year planned out to a T, and each summer scheduled with a resume building program.

I thought that if I planned everything and did everything on “the list,” that I would be destined for success. However, I never understood that my plan wasn’t always God’s plan and that success wasn’t always led by living a perfect life.

My first glimpse of this was during my sophomore year of high school. I had applied to one of the summer programs that was, of course, on the list, and I wasn’t accepted.

At the moment, I was confused. What didn’t make me a strong applicant? I had done everything I thought I was supposed to. However, my decline in acceptance to that program allowed me to search for others.

It was that summer that I was accepted and attended a Medical program at the University of Kentucky which allowed me to see the variety of fields within medicine.

It was that summer I fell in love with science. It was that summer I fell in love with caring and giving to others.

I often think back to the sadness that overwhelmed me when I wasn’t accepted into the program I originally wanted to attend.

It’s funny because had I been accepted, I would never have attended the medical program and never found my passion.

Though I realize now it was God’s will for me to be lead onto another path that summer and during many other situations throughout my life, trusting His plan wholeheartedly is something that I have often struggled with.

Whether something is big or small, has a negative or positive impact, it’s been hard for me understand the meaning of it all.

Yet, we read in Jeremiah 29:11-13, “¹¹ 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. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

If we trust the Lord and follow His word, He promises things bigger than ourselves.

His will, purpose, and plan for each and every one of us is so much greater than our selfish selves can even begin to imagine.

We may not get His timing or what He has in store for us, and we maybe not even understand how His way is better. Yet, it’s completely in His hands.

In this world, so many of us, like myself, have such big aspirations and high expectations for ourselves.

Having goals and striving toward them is a wonderful thing. However, when those things fall and don’t turn out as we once anticipated, we must realize and trust that this is His plan, His timing, and the story He is writing for us.