Proverbs | the VOICE staff blog

Saying goodbye to things that you love is hard. Saying goodbye when you don’t know what comes next is even harder. It’s that feeling of the unknown; knowing that God is leading you to the end of something, but hasn’t revealed the next step yet.

This year has been full of goodbyes. Last summer I was part of the last VOICE conference, and was the last V2 graduate. My Grandpa passed away into Jesus’ arms in January after a long struggle with illness. It happened during CI’s in Taiwan, and it was very surreal to balance my feelings of loss about my Grandpa and also my feelings of the impending loss of CI’s, since no one was sure if it would continue after that. In July I left my job of three years, said my goodbyes to Taiwan and cried as the plane left the ground, because I didn’t know if/when I would return to the country and people who had captured my heart. And now, this is my last blog post for the VOICE staff blog.

It feels like I’ve had to let go of a lot of things without having been given their replacements yet, and the future is a great big question mark for me. I don’t know what I’ll do after I graduate from school in a few months, and that feeling is a bit scary. In this season of goodbyes and uncertainty about the future, I’m comforted by this promise from Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV):

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart”: God has proven himself faithful to me over and over throughout my life, and I would be a fool to doubt Him now.

“…and lean not unto thine own understanding.”: Even if my life doesn’t look exactly like I think it should right now, or things aren’t working out the way I want, I have to trust that God’s sovereignty and wisdom is greater than my own. Some of the greatest blessings of my life have come from completely unexpected places; things I would have ignored because *I* did not think they were worthy of my attention. How glad I am that God’s goodness to me is greater than I could ever imagine!

“…In all thy ways acknowledge him…”: When you’re in a period of change, you’re often faced with a lot of big decisions and choices. It’s often really hard to know what decision is the right one, if they all seem equally valid. I’ve been learning the wisdom of acknowledging God’s authority in my life, and ensuring that whatever steps I do take are honoring and glorifying to Him. When I do that, it gives me the confidence that I’m not making decisions based off of my own wants and desires.

“…and he shall direct thy paths.”: I may not know what that path looks like right now, but that’s okay. I trust that the God of the universe who knows my name, finds me worthy and calls me to Him will direct my path in His own timing.

I may not know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future. So in this season of goodbyes, loss, change and uncertainty, I can cling to the promise of my Father God that He will never leave me or forsake me and that He will use my life to glorify Him, no matter what that life looks like.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV).” These were two of the first verses I remember memorizing as a young child (oh so long ago). During the past 20+ years I have quoted and meditated on these verses countless times while contemplating life’s myriad of questions. Perhaps you’ve asked a few of your own; What should I study? Where should I look for a job? How am I going to pay for school/car/apartment? Who should I marry? What should I do with my life? If you are anything like me, you have asked these and many more, and have struggled impatiently with the unknown.

Even though I have been familiar with the words of Proverbs 3 for many years, I still have only started to realize the importance and truth contained within these verses. In the past year, the Lord has been helping me in His loving way to put aside my own understanding and ideas. As I shared with some of you at VOICE last summer, I had been looking for a job and still working through some issues getting my degree and teaching license taken care of, as well as trying to figure out how to live on my own in a foreign country. I often felt discouraged as one job opportunity after another failed to work out, and as each step forward required a mountain of paperwork. It seemed that everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. Each time I thought about all of the things I needed to accomplish, I felt there was no way they could all be resolved. Could I find a job before my visiting permission expires and I need to go back to the US? Will I even have enough money to make it back to the US by then? I kept asking how long will I have to wait… And the Lord asked me to trust Him, and stop using my own understanding. I was still trying to fit what I thought I needed into my understanding of what God wanted for me. God told me to allow Him to demonstrate His love and wisdom promised in His word.

God, of course, is faithful and provided a job just in time. The paperwork for my ARC, some of which had to be sent back to the US for authorization, was approved a couple days before my visa expired. My teaching license paperwork was approved, and I’m even getting better at surviving here in Taiwan. Most importantly, God’s promise to direct my path was fulfilled, and I have many testimonies of how the Lord provided exactly what I needed. Praise the Lord for not letting me continue to try to figure it out in my own wisdom. God’s word is true, may we continue to walk daily Christ Jesus.

Tag Archives: Proverbs

Goodbyes and the Future

Trust in the Lord