Aubree Secrist – When Life Really Begins

Today’s blog post was written by WCC’s own Aubree Secrist, who has recently become a new mother! But the astounding wisdom she shares today about being a young and aspiring Christian can be applied to all of us as we search for God’s will and fulfillment in our lives. – Rene

When you’re young, growing up is one of the most exciting things to think about. With a young, adventurous mind, your thoughts can wander to all the amazing things you can accomplish. It comes at different times for everyone, but you finally decide what you’re going to do with your life. The anticipation of starting the rest of your life keeps you constantly excited. In your mind, this is the turning point of when life really begins. 

What happens when those dreams and aspirations don’t come to fruition? What happens when your plans are interrupted by life events? What happens when the door that leads to your future is continuously closed? Or what if that career you thought would be perfect for you, doesn’t give you the fulfillment you just knew it would?

As for me, I’ve always worked hard. I’ve had a job ever since I was able to. My mom took me back and forth to my first job, since I was too young to drive. There were even times throughout high school and college when I had multiple jobs. My parents always pushed me to have a strong work ethic and reminded me that my hard work would not go unnoticed. So that’s what I did. I decided on my career early on in high school. I kept my head forward and didn’t let anything get in the way of the life I wanted for myself. I put time and effort, and then even more time and effort into getting to where I wanted to be. Then the day finally came. All my hard work did pay off. This is when life begins, I thought. 

My mindset quickly went from I just scored my dream job to, this isn’t for me. A state of confusion came. There were so many why’s. Why me? Why does this not make me happy like I thought it would? Why did I work this hard to get this result? I can’t say that I wasn’t frustrated with God for a while. Many times, I thought, “God I prayed for this so much, so why did you lead me here if you knew I would hate it?” After all the other roadblocks I’ve had in my life, I thought it would have been nice to have one here if this wasn’t supposed to be for me. 

The excitement you once had about growing up becomes daunting. The thought of “this is what you have to do for the rest of your life, so you better like it” becomes scary. Then the fear comes. The fear of being stuck. The fear of telling the people around you and what they might think. Will you let them down? Or worse, will they not understand? All these thoughts become consuming and almost put you into what feels like an identity crisis. It makes you wonder, who am I? Who am I supposed to be? What is my purpose in life?

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that what Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2

It can be so easy to get caught up in our identity in this world, that we can forget our identity lies in Jesus Christ. The One who created us, is the only One who knows our hearts and that only He can truly fill them. We make the mistake of letting not only careers, but possessions, relationships, materialistic things, etc. define who we are. This commonly leads to us searching for what’s next, wanting the next best thing, or thinking we “failed” when things don’t go as planned. We have good intentions and think we know what will make our life perfect. As the Bible tells us, God has a divine plan for each and every one of us before we come about this Earth, yet we still try to make it on our own. Limiting ourselves to what we have in mind, only takes away from the gifts God wants to share with us. When we let go of our own plans, God can reveal His perfect plan, which is far greater than anything we could ever imagine. When hard work, time, and effort are put into a relationship with our Maker, that is when life really begins.