It doesn't seem long ago when I was just a little girl day-dreaming about "growing up." I wondered things like what will I be, where will I live, who will be my friends, how much money will I make, what car will I drive. Somehow I have come to a place where I can answer these questions. I am a broadcast meteorologist, I live in Indiana, I am in the process of making friends, I make very little money, and I drive a Jeep Liberty. Once these questions seemed so important and yet so far off. It seemed that I would never really get to that place in the future... "the real world." But twenty two years later, here I am. I'm suddenly hit with many realizations. None of the above questions truly even matter. Yes, I'm happy doing what I do; yes, I like Indiana (but it has nothing on Mississippi!); certainly I am excited for what friends I will make. My sweet starting salary will suffice, and my car is just right. But none of these things make who I am and truly give my life any more substance than the next person. My relationship with a merciful Savior is the only true thing I can rest in, find hope in, and be sure of.
I started reading a book the other day that my wonderful sister gave me called Twentysomething Girl. To say that this book is what I needed to be reading is the biggest understatement. Life hasn't exactly been smooth transitionally lately. I graduated college from the most amazing campus on the planet, packed my things from an old house of five best friends and roommates, and moved several states north. I didn't even know where Indiana was on a map a year ago, and now here I sit in one of its towns serving as their "weather expert." I feel like I was just a student learning the basics. And here I am giving my opinion of what Mother Nature will do next, with thousands of people truly heeding my educated guess. All of this to say that things have certainly changed, and they've changed quite quickly! To name a few:
-Then I was the biggest night owl- going to sleep at 1:00 on a good night and sleeping in every chance I got.
-Now I go to bed at 8:00 and wake up at 2:45 in the morning. I just have to laugh at that one...
-Then I had many friends to visit with, hang out with, and run to a movie with.
-Now I have one friend (excluding the people I've met at work). She is one just enough... she sought me out at church and asked to get coffee with me. God has a way like that.
-Then I had the financial help from two very generous and care-taking parents.
-Now I have more than enough bills to pay... all under my name.
-Then I had activities, meetings, projects, and coffee-dates to go to.
-Now I come home after work and ask myself Now what?
-Then I would I would eat sorority house food, fast food, or scramble up something from my small cabinet.
-Now I am racking my brain each night for a dinner idea. Thankfully I can depend on an easy sandwich at lunch.
In Twentysomething Girl there is a quote that says it well:
"The only thing that has been a constant in my life since graduation is change."
What a true paradox! I know that this is just the beginning of a life full of changes. Though it seems overwhelming to think of all the unknowns of the future, I am quickly comforted when I remember our sovereign Savior, the author of our stories.
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them
came to be." Psalm 139:16
Nothing catches our God off guard. What a liberating truth! For that we can lay our heads down at night.
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