Dear Teenager Who Doesn’t Know What to Do with Their Life

Dear Teenager Who Doesn’t Know What To Do With Their Life,

First, take a deep breath. In. Out. There you go.

My heart goes out to you for the weight on your shoulders. I get it. I was on my knees this morning, asking God why. You see, I made a plan about what to do next with my life, but last night it fell through — again.

I paced the living room. Tears might come later, but last night I was just so frustrated. I’m trying so hard to pursue God’s will for my life and please Him in all that I do but I keep hitting barrier after barrier.

Maybe that is you. You know where God is calling you and it just isn’t working out. Do we persevere? Or do we take the hint that maybe this isn’t what God has for us?

Or maybe that’s not you at all. Maybe you feel paralyzed by the incredibly vast number of possibilities. You have so many options you don’t even know where to start. You don’t want to discount any of them, and you want to do multiple — except you’re human.

Then, loving friends and family are excited for you, and they ask all the questions… Where do you want to go to college? Where do you want to live? Do you have a significant other? Will you marry your significant other? What career do you want to pursue? How are you going to get there? When are you going to get there? Why do you want to do what you want to do? How can they support you in your journey?

If you’re like me, your brain starts spinning in circles and you feel like a failure after your third “I don’t know.”

But here are four things I do know:

1. God knows the plan

God knows the unknowns. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 139, “all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Our lives are not random but carefully, intentionally authored. He has seen all the possibilities and knows how it will turn out. Isn’t that relieving?

2. God is trustworthy

No matter what plans we make, we don’t have control over anything. But because God is both a good God and an all-powerful One, He is trustworthy. Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Sometimes I get stressed out because I’m so overwhelmed — I feel like Sophie in the world of The BFG. Like a little kid playing house except I can’t run home for a snack afterward. But it is such a relief to remember that I don’t have to hold it all together. When I’m not reliable or trustworthy, God is!

3. God loves us

Our God is Father. He is on our side. He is for us. He is waiting to hold us when we’re scared and lead us when we don’t know where to go. He is our shepherd and friend. He is gentle and lowly. Really let those realities sink in. Most of us have heard these terms so many times they’ve lost their meaning. But I take so much comfort right now in being reminded of my Abba’s heart.

My fear of failure, my worry about the unknown, fade when I remember that no matter what, I am loved. No matter what obstacle I face or decision I make, God still yearns for me and loves me. The same is absolutely true for you.

4. God has been faithful in the past

One of the things that has been most encouraging and grounding in this season of unknowns for me has been remembering how God has worked in the past. Again, read through the Psalms and you will see so many that start out distraught, then focus on God’s past works, and through that reflection come to hope. I hope our prayers can follow the same pattern.

God’s faithfulness is evident through the Bible, but probably in your own life, too. Just the fact that you are in the position you are in, wrestling with the decisions and dilemmas in your life, is a testament to God’s past faithfulness.

God has brought me through harder things in the past, why do I not trust Him now?

I may not understand my current circumstances, but I know who He is. And that is what I’m choosing to hold onto. Friend, will you join me?

Love,

A Friend Who Doesn’t Know What She’s Doing Either