She Laughs Without Fear of the Future

I made it almost a whole year as a teenage girl blogging about Jesus without mentioning one of the iconic teenage girl scripture passages::: Proverbs 31
Although I often think there is too much fanfare around this particular passage, it’s written as an example for me just like every other girl out there. And I take that seriously and I want to strive to live up to that the best I can through the power God provides. 

Proverbs 31:25 -30 // She is clothed with strength and dignity,
    and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise,
    and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household
    and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her.
    Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
    but you surpass them all!” Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
    but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. // (NLT)

I’ve read through all of this more times than I can count, but in just the past three months, a completely different part of the passage has begun to stand out to me. 

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{she laughs without fear of the future}

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I don’t know about you, but I am a planner to the utmost extreme. I like to have every detail laid out and every box checked. I like to know when and how I’m gonna do everything. And all the unknown that’s in the future… it scares me. But there’s two big things that this phrase means to me and has been impacting in my life over the past few months and I want to share those with you today. 

1. Live for right now

Often in the craziness of life, I get caught up in what the next thing is going to be. Planning for the next event. Saving money for the next big thing or trip. Scheduling ahead, making plans for tomorrow, dreaming about my life five years from now. 

But God has given me today. 

God has given me right now. I want to enjoy right now. Laugh in right now, laugh not having to know what the future holds. Enjoying the little things that make right now such a blessing and let that be enough. 

It’s the simplest things that have been the biggest blessings to me this week. Coming home and lighting my candles. Clean sheets and warm blankets. Chocolate milkshakes. It doesn’t take having all of life planned and mapped out and good exactly the way I’d hoped. It just takes being able to enjoy all the little things that make life so good. 

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2. Trust God with the future

His ways are so much higher than ours, He is working all things for our good, He knows so much better than we ever could. Why don’t I trust the future to the One who sees it all? The One who is all-knowing and all-powerful and all-good? I don’t have that answer. Except that it’s something I definitely need to keep working on. Not being afraid of the future. 

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” — Corrie ten Boom

I’ve learned through the examples of Joshua, Jonah, Isaiah, Joseph… God knows what He is doing. And He reiterates that to me in my life time and time again. Whether any part of my life goes the way I think I want it to or not, I know that He is never going to let me go and that He is working all things for good in His perfect timing. 

“Thankfully, God’s plans don’t seem to be much affected by my own.” — Katie Davis

So that’s me right now, have you noticed a theme in what I’ve been writing recently? It’s not really intentional beyond that it’s something God is laying on my heart in a dozen different ways right now. To enjoy this life and laugh and have joy and not worry. He is so so good, even in the storms, even in the stress and anxiety, oh He is such a good Father. And I’m learning to rest in that no matter what. 

“Many things about tomorrow, I can’t seem to understand, but I know Who holds tomorrow. And I know Who holds my hand.” — Ira Stanphill

— Taryn