What are you going to do after college? Where are you going to live? What is your plan for your future?

These questions haunt me in my sleep and thinking about the future terrifies me. It's hard to envision what I am going to do after these four years of college. I can't imagine growing up, buying my own house, getting a “real job,” getting married, having kids, or growing old in general. At this time in my life, I can't even manage to do my own laundry without shrinking half my clothes. If you're anything like me, it's probably difficult for you to shake your fear of the future, but I know from the little experience I’ve gained in these 20 years, it’s not impossible. The one thing that always seems to calm me down when I start getting anxious about the future is remembering that I’ve made it this far in life.

Think about it, there have been so many milestones in our lives that we have overcome, and so many fears that we have shaken throughout our short lifetime. As little girls we were always anticipating having our first kiss. When the day finally came, it might not have gone as smoothly as you thought it would. Bumping noses wasn’t the ideal way you wanted to remember this monumental moment of your life, but it wasn’t the end of the world either. Life went on and we learned from our mistakes. (Always lean to the right…)

When we were in elementary school we thought how cool it would be to have our own phones, and after a week of having one we realized that all the hype was for nothing. We realized that having a cell phone was just a way for our parents to keep track of us by calling every 5 minutes. Then came middle school where we used to think how strange it would be to drive a car and go places without having to catch a ride from an adult, and when the time came for us to get our licenses, we were beyond ready. Leaving the driveway on our own for the first time probably seemed like the most exciting day of our lives at the young age of 16. Nearly 5 years later, driving seems more like a chore than a pleasure.

Fast forward to your senior year of high school. Do you remember getting asked where you wanted to go to college 100 times by every single person you knew? That question was intimidating, and the idea of leaving our home towns to live somewhere that we hadn’t yet decided was scary, but we made those important decisions, and look where we are at now! We moved on from the places that we called home and moved into a dorm room to live with a complete stranger. We survived move in day, recruitment, and our first week of classes. Our universities became our homes, complete strangers became our family, and our dorm rooms turned into our place of comfort. Everything had a way of working itself out, and looking back on it now, there was really nothing to be afraid of! Reminding ourselves that we survived all of those milestones in our lives can give us hope that we will be able to handle whatever our future holds.

Now, lets talk about the real source of comfort. God has a crazy way of making everything fall perfectly into place and I know that my future holds this same kind of settling in. Whether you believe in one God, a hundred Gods, or no God at all, it's hard to think that there isn't some bigger power out there that makes everything work out the way it does. Looking for comfort in God’s plan for us as well as in the fact that we have already survived some of the most important decisions of our lives can really help ease your post college anxiety.

Am I afraid of what my future holds? Absolutely. I can't imagine what I am going to be doing in 2 years, what job I’m going to have, or where I'm going to be living. I have no idea what my future has in store for me, but I’m not going to let fear of the unknown control my life. If there is one thing that I know for sure, it's that life is going to happen and there's nothing that I can do to stop the inevitable from coming. When I think about it, there is peace in this very thing.

So, the miracle answer to the post college question is this… Always, without hesitation, trust in God's plan for your future. Live your life day by day and don’t dwell on the fact that you don’t know what tomorrow holds. Everything will work out in the long run. Trust in the decisions you make, even if you aren’t 100 percent positive they’re the right ones. Go with your gut and follow your heart in everything you do. Life has worked out for us this far, so why should we be afraid of what tomorrow holds? The answer to that question is that we shouldn’t.