By Nikki Dabney

Congratulations! You’re a college grad. Well done, my friend. Your college years are now memories, and your unpaved future lies ahead. For the first time in our suburban American lives, the next step is not already mapped out for us.

Does that cause anxiety to well up inside of you?

Let that fear open your eyes to your idol of control. It’s always been there; it’s just that everyone else around you was also enslaved, so you didn’t notice.

You thought if you got good enough grades, you could get into an impressive college. You thought if you got all the right internships, you could secure yourself a job. Of course, there is something to be said of diligence and hard work, but our self-sufficiency has fooled us into thinking we’re in control and that life is about us and our accomplishments.

So far, you may have been going through life making your own decisions, choosing what would bring you the most glory, and hoping God would tag along.

But God doesn’t exist to follow you around; you exist to follow Him.

Use this opportunity in life to surrender. Ask God what He wants you to do next – ask Him what would help make you more like Christ and what would bring Him the most glory. Then go wherever He calls! And He may call you to another unpaid internship. A new city. A poor neighborhood. A boring job.

Just remember one thing: you are a missionary.

God didn’t place you in college to learn economics and join a cute sorority. You were there for the same purpose you are anywhere: to know God and to make Him known to others. And the same is true for wherever He places you next.

Whether you graduate and work at a coffee shop, or have to live with your parents for a while, or end up with a job you never expected to have (hello, I work at a law firm), your call is still the same, my fellow missionary: pursue intimacy with God and make disciples.

The position of a Christ follower is a position of freedom! We don’t have to be like the rest of the world – racing to get ahead, fretting about the future, wondering if we’re enough. We get to walk with the Spirit. Read what comes after the verses that we so often quote:

Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

Psalm 37:4-6

If your heart’s desire is to experience more of God and to witness the salvation of your neighbor, you will be satisfied, no matter where this next season of life takes you.

I wanted to work in ministry, but my Father placed me in a law firm. And a year later, I can confidently say, He knew my heart’s desire better than I did.