For about two years now I've been giving this advice to people: whatever is supposed to happen will. And believe me, I live by that and 100% am convinced that no matter what happens in your life, that it happens for a reason. The fact that my life is out of my control actually gives me a sense of peace. Oddly enough, I don't want to be the one in control of my "destiny". I don't trust the plans I have for my life. I've tried that. It didn't work.
I guess what this post is about is that I'm learning to trust in a different way. The past two or three years my struggle has always been trusting God and trusting that everything will be okay. I'm past that and I know that there's a peace in my heart that whatever happens in life is beautiful and comes from the Higher Power that knows a lot more then I do. The struggle now is the everyday surrender. In life, we honestly don't even know what is going to happen in the next 5 minutes...let alone the next 5 years. Yes, of course you can have a plan and a goal for what you want to do but it's the day-by-day successes and failures that will get you there.
The everyday surrender -- to me -- is waking up in the morning and accepting whatever comes. Surrendering what you want and whole-heartedly wanting what God wants for you. I spent this past weekend with a friend of mine who is about to go on probably the scariest adventure of his life in a month--being deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months. However, amidst all of the uncertainty he's just accepted it. He is going to go over there and do what he has to do to come home safely. He trusts. It just puts into perspective how big God really is. How, no matter what, there's a lesson to be learned over there whether that lesson is for him to find out or for his friends and family to learn. Pray for him and all of the guys going over there.
However, in a month I will be going on a little (HUGE) adventure myself, to Malaysia and the Philippines. Am I scared? A little. Excited? You could say that. Ready to see what God has planned? Heck freaking yes. This all just fell into place and fell into my hands and usually the best things in life happen that way. Out of our control. God just knows and He knows our hearts and what they need at that certain moment. Apparently my heart needs to learn something over in Malaysia--so I'm there!
To conclude this scatter-brained post, I guess the everyday surrender is just telling yourself that everything is going to be okay. Looking outside and knowing that in this great, incredible world, God put us exactly where we are for a reason. He placed the people in our lives at the time He did to learn from them, to love them, to grow with them, and to help them. So my challenge for you (and for myself) is to just be in this moment, right now. Not to look ahead or try to chase your past again, but to look around you and the people in your life and thank God for them. There are so, so, so many amazing, beautiful things in this life--open your eyes and see them.
Be present right now, listen through the silence and always
stay.beautiful
