Nostalgia much?

So it's finally happened. I've begun my Senior year of college. As I look back over the past years, the memories I find are so fresh in my memory that it seems like they happened just yesterday. I can't fathom how three years has passed so quickly, yet here I am, almost halfway through my 7th semester of college. Wow, seven semesters. I remember when it was an accomplishment for me just to make it through my first semester! It all went by in a blur, yet I remember everything so distinctly. As I think about the people I've met, the friends I have made, and the memories that will never seem like they happened more than a day ago, I can't help but feel nostalgic. True, I am looking forward to graduating this coming May, but there are things and most certainly people that I will miss here. 

That being said, I turn to the future, because it does me little good to dwell on the past in such a manner and wish to go back in time (though there are certain parts of my college life that I would NOT wish to relive!). The thought of graduating excites me! It marks the beginning of "a new chapter" in my life, and as the pages leading up to that chapter turn ever so quickly before me, I eagerly await what comes next. But then I think, "What does come next?" I can't help but wonder, and feel a little anxious at the thought. I'm graduating. This is the last time I'll be moving into the dorms. The last time I'll have a fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Spring break. The last time I'll sign up for the next semester! Next Fall I won't be starting school. 

I reflect on my senior year of high school, and recall so vividly thinking, "I can't wait until I'm done with this year, I won't have to do school anymore!" (that was before I had decided to come to college). And now that I'm in the Senior year of college I think, "I look forward to graduating, but what in the world am I going to do after that?!" It's hard figuring out what God wants me to do. I've given thought to grad school, to trying to find a job in illustration (Lord willing) not too far from home so I don't have to move just yet. And of course there is the question of "I wonder when I'll get married?" that I've had for some years and still sits in the back of my mind at times. Even as I consider the seeming "uncertainty" of my future I feel a peace. I know God will take care of me -- He promised he would! "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Matthew 6:26; "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28. 

So I'm not worried about graduating despite the fact that God has not yet made the path he has laid out for me clear. He's led me thus far in my life, and I know He's not about to stop. I must have faith, trust in him, and keep loving and obeying Him; He'll do the rest, which is to say, He'll do it all. He only requires that I obey and love Him. And with those thoughts in mind, I can't feel anxious, I can't worry, and my nostalgia all but vanishes. Because I've seen what He's done in my life in just these three years. I can't wait to see what he'll do for me in the years to come!

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-8