The Voices of Your Future

With graduation for many students right around the corner, kids all over America are making plans to go to college as soon as their high school years are through. My advice? WAIT. I know...gasp...shock...faint. Why do I say wait? Because many young adults rush right off to college for the sake of tradition. It's the accepted 'norm' just like not wearing white after a certain time of year. The herd mentality. Go to college in order to get the good job. Like God can't provide a good job without a college degree? Don't try to put fences around what God can and cannot do with a life that's surrendered to Him.

I used to be of the 'finish high school, go to straight to college' mindset. I wanted to be a writer, I felt like God had given me that talent. My parents thought a stint in the military would be a better idea. After I left the military, my then pastor said I needed to go off to college (the ONLY college acceptable for Christian young ladies in his opinion). I still wanted to be a writer. But didn't good Christian young ladies obey their pastor? Off to college I went where I studied education. zzzzzzzz....

Twenty years later, guess what I'm doing with my life? I'm a writer. Yes, a published writer. It took fourteen years to get back on the right path and a year of learning about freelance writing after that before I sold my first work. What went wrong?

I listened to everyone's voices except the One that mattered the most. God's voice. Too many times we run full speed ahead into the future without God's guidance as our road map.

As a young person, you'll hear plenty of voices giving you advice about your future, but remember, only One voice matters the most and that's the Lord's. It's okay if no one understands but you and God.

My advice to every Christian young person is to take a year off after high school. Spend that year praying about your future and seeking what it is He wants you to do. College is not for everyone.