“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.“-Taylor Swift

Tomorrow, I’ll be closing a chapter; a chapter that I’ve been living in since the 9th grade. When I walk up to receive my diploma, and walk off the stage to greet my family, my time in high school will be over.

Up until now, I’ve pretty much known what to expect out of life. I’ve been with the same people for the last couple years and know exactly who I’m going to hang out with when I get to my classes. Not to mention that for the first time, I’ll be in classes where not everyone shares my faith. I’ve heard all of the horror stories and have seen the movie God’s Not Dead, where the professor asks all of his students to write “God is dead”. I suppose if I end up with a situation like that, God will give me the courage to get through.

Not to mention that my goals will no longer be “high school goals”, they’ll be life goals. Now is a time when I’m really going to need to start working hard to achieve my dreams.

But, even as I face this, I know that everything will be OK.

I think this is one of those times when I (and every other graduating senior) have to “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). 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 said this to the Israelites exiled in Babylon in the Old Testament and I believe this can be said for each one of us today. God has written our stories before we were even born and has amazing plans for each of our lives, plans that are better than we can eve imagine right now.

So this is our hope fellow graduates of middle school, high school, and college.

This is our hope, fellow travelers in the road of life.

This is our hope, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

God has plans for us that we can’t see yet. All that we have to do, is continue to follow Him and have faith in the future. Faith in what we cannot see, but still choose to believe.

This will be the faith that leads us, this will be the faith that helps us get through, and this will be the faith that helps us thrive in our new chapters of life, whatever they may look like. Our individual stories may be as different as the DNA inside of us, but we serve the same Creator. We serve the same Creator who made the stars, and, the same Creator who holds our hearts.

Thus, as we enter into our next chapter, let’s live by faith, choose to love those God puts in our paths, and have hope in the amazing plans that our God has for us.

‘”You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16.❤️