When Following God Means Staying Right Where You Are

I am twenty-two years old, I just graduated from college, and I’m at a point where I dread the question, “So what’s next for you?” because I’m never sure how to answer.

Honestly, I’m sure of only one thing: I will keep following Jesus. But this season is not a picture of the life I had planned and hoped to lead while following him. As a product of the wanderlust generation, I adopted the idea that following always involves going somewhere, and I have done a lot of going—full speed ahead, always chasing the next thing. In high school, college was my goal. I wanted to graduate early, but my parents convinced me not to. I finished college early, however—but at the cost of working three jobs and taking twenty-four credits my last semester.

I have always been in a hurry to get to the next thing, and I’ve accomplished many of my next things. Yet I have often accomplished them at the expense of the right now things.

Receiving my college diploma in the mail a few weeks back felt like the end of a season, but for the first time, I had no idea what was next. This type-A, goal-oriented gal was suddenly without a plan. So I started waiting and praying.

Recently, I was asked to interview for a job I never officially applied for, and I got it. It was essentially handed to me. I couldn’t deny that God had opened the door, but the door looked a lot different and less shiny than the one I had dreamt of. I almost chose not to walk through it, but God quietly spoke to my heart: “I am calling you to wait. Be faithful in what may seem mundane.” So I took the job.

You see, I had been searching for a dream job, an adventure, a big next step, but God had simply been seeking my obedience. Striving for obedience always pushes me to ask hard questions like these: What if following God doesn’t always look like some grand, new adventure? What if it looks more like leveraging my hopes and dreams and big plans for the gospel right here and right now where God has placed me?

One day my obedience may look like getting on a plane and crossing the world to follow him. I am still praying and waiting for a dream job, as well as relying on God for a husband. But I believe without a doubt that God is calling me right now to stay where I am.

We often tend to gauge our faithfulness by where we go, the miles we travel, but perhaps the bravest among us choose to do the one little thing in front of us with great love and obedience. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is to sit still and water the grass where we’ve been planted. I don’t want to be so worried about what’s next that I miss what’s now. So here I am waiting, because my life is not about my dreams, but his plans.

As Christians, we sometimes make the concept of following Jesus mostly go-oriented. I certainly want to go where God sends me, but what if I am in this place right now because God has sent me here with a purpose? What if your job, your relationships, and your neighborhood are the very places God wants you planted?

[Tweet “We can do a thousand good things that are not God things.”] I often wonder how many God-opportunities I’ve passed over while looking for the next thing.

I never want to waste all my opportunities in the here and now because I can’t see past my dreams for the future. My dreams must serve as windows to new ideas and opportunities, not walls I can’t move past. Right now, following Jesus doesn’t mean my dream job or traveling some glamorous path, but it does look like opportunities to serve those right here in my own circle. I’m making a choice to live, love, serve, and be obedient right here and now.

Maybe your next step looks a lot like mine. [Tweet “How can you live, love, serve, and obey in a situation God has placed you in for this season?”] How can you water the grass where God has planted you? Let’s all follow Jesus—wherever he calls us now.

Hannah Card is a wonderer and a wanderer. She is a southern-speakin’, Jesus-lovin’ coffee consumer who writes about life, whether pretty or messy (usually leaning toward messy). She is the daughter of two amazing, brave, church-planting Jesus followers, the sister of an amazing worship pastor, and a lover of Jesus. She blogs at thissweetlybrokenlife.com.