Decision Making.

I found out today that a good friend of mine from Guam was incarcerated for the past month due to some poor decisions that he made. In less than 2 years he's acquired a record longer than my forearm. At barely 18 (or maybe 17, I'm not quite sure...) he's already been to the hospital to get stitched up after numerous fights he's gotten himself into, including a few lacerations caused by a prison guard. Seeing pictures of him all beat up and sitting a hospital room in his jumpsuit sent a shocking revelation through my brain: he looks just like the inmate we met on our trip to jail a couple of months ago. This kid that I've shared so many experiences with and loved dearly has taken a turn for the worse, with the possibility of never returning to life he had prior to his one bad to decision give car keys to a drunk teen. It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch it unfold through Facebook; being thousands of miles away and not being able to do a single thing to help turn this situation around. Wow.

It's really become poignant to me recently just how important the decisions that we make are to our lives. And we all know that decisions aren't easy, at ALL. This time of year high school seniors are faced with possibly the biggest decision of their lives to date: college. As acceptance and denial letters trickle into our mailboxes the stress builds exponentially. It's been drilled into our brains since kindergarten that the college we choose to attend will determine our future. The amount of pressure that adds to an 18 year old's life is so immense I'm surprised we don't explode. With my parents living in Germany for my first three years of college this decision became even harder for me: stay in state and be near all my very dear friends, or move to Florida to pursue a wonderful degree program and be nearer to my extended family...

I came across a really awesome verse recently that reminded me that no matter how stressful and impossible this decision may feel, there's this big guy named God who's already made the decision for me. Jeremiah 29:11 says, " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" God already knows where I'm going to college. I know that He's known every aspect of my life since before I was born because in Jeremiah 1:5 He says, "'Before I shaped you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.'" Although I've already made my own decision to accept admission as the University of Florida if I'm accepted (less than a month til I find out!) I can find comfort in the fact that the only reason that plan won't work out is because it's not what GOD planned for my life. 

In the end we need to remember that yes, as humans we have the mental capacity and privilege to make our own decisions, but it is pertinent that we are able to accept the fact that GOD'S decision is ultimately that path we will take. As long as we trust that He has plans to "prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future." God's a sneaky dude. But he knows exactly what situations to put his followers in, exactly what hard decisions to hand them to strengthen their trust in him and give them the fullest life possible.