Direction and Provision
This week has been a good one. I’m still learning to manage my time better, but I am slowly starting to reorient my priorities and time to more accurately reflect what I care about the most. Lately, I have been working my way through Exodus as part of my journey of reading the Bible in chronological order. It always amazes me how a book I have read so many times can hold new meaning for me in this stage of my life.
The Story of Exodus (at least part of it)
The primary purpose of the book of Exodus is to highlight God’s faithfulness to His people by delivering them from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. As the Israelites were wandering in the desert, they had to trust that God would provide direction and provision. And guess what – He did.
The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and He provided light at night with a pillar of fire … And the Lord did not remove the pillar of fire from its place in front of the people (13:21-22).
The Lord was constantly with the Israelites, going before them, protecting them, and giving them the victory. All they had to do was follow His direction and they would be all right. Food was also scarce in the desert. So the Lord provided quail and manna for them to eat. Every day God provided for each family the exact amount of food that they needed, no more, no less.
Reflecting On God’s Faithfulness In My Life
Right now, I am preparing to graduate with my master’s degree. While I am beyond thrilled to be done with school, I have been a little anxious about what lies ahead. My whole life, everything has seemed so predictable. After high school came undergrad. After undergrad came grad school. One seemingly predictable year after the next. Now that school is drawing to a close, nothing seems predictable anymore.
I have always been a planner, almost a schemer if you will. I love organizing my next move in this chess game called life. It gives me comfort to know with a high degree of certainty what the next stage of life will hold. However, these last few years have thrown me for a loop and have challenged me to rely more heavily on God’s plan for my life than my own.
Past Examples of Faithfulness
It began in undergrad where I had this inexplicable drive to graduate in three years instead of four. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to hasten my time at Oregon, a school I loved so much, but for some reason, I felt compelled to finish early.
Then came grad school applications. I was certain I would end up down south. I wanted to live there so desperately. However, I got rejection letters from all the southern schools I applied to. I ended up instead getting offers from two schools, one in Oregon and one in the Midwest. After a week of prayer and agonizing, I decided to take a leap of faith and turn down my offer from Oregon’s graduate program. Instead, I followed God’s lead to the Midwest for grad school, a region of the country I had never been to before. A place where I knew no one. A stranger in the land if you will. However, following God’s calling on my life to go to the Midwest will always be one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Following the decision for grad school, I came upon applications for my two clinical internships. I wanted so desperately to return home to Oregon for both placements. However, out of the many places I contacted, only two places said they were taking out-of-state interns. One of them was in Portland, and the other in Idaho. I was again faced with the decision to trust God’s plan for my life. It turned out that in providing those two options, He was providing me exactly what I needed, no more, no less. Although I didn’t want to leave Oregon again, God knew that living in Idaho for two months was exactly what I needed, even though I didn’t see it at the time.
Currently
Now I am facing job applications. I want so desperately to work in a medical setting in Oregon, however, medical opportunities for a clinical fellow in the Northwest are hard to come by. Every day, I search the job postings on Indeed.com. I find myself tempted to think that my perfect plan for my career will not come to pass.
However, as I read through Exodus, I am constantly reminded of God’s faithfulness to His people and am led to reflect on the ways He has been faithful to direct me in my life. I need to be comfortable with the idea that my perfect plan may not be what God has in store for me. I need to trust His direction and believe that if He calls me to something different, that that opportunity will be far better than what I could ever dream for myself.
These last few years, if I would’ve stuck to what my “perfect” plan was, I am sure I would have ended up fine. But I would have ended up missing out on one of the greatest experiences of my life; I would have missed out on making new lifelong friends; and I would have missed out on multiple seasons of personal growth.
Through this period of uncertainty in life and job applications, I am continually reminding myself that God is still directing me just as He did the Israelites thousands of years ago. I am reminding myself that He will provide me exactly what I need when I need it. While I see my world through a narrow lens, He sees the big picture.
Blessings on your home and table
~Natalie
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