As we transition from summer to fall, many of us are moving on to new things—maybe a new school year, a new job, a new place, a new season. During these shifting seasons, it’s easy to get caught up in fear and anxiety.

And even if we pray about God’s plans for our lives, we don’t always hear a clear answer.

The good news is, God’s word is filled with encouragement as we seek His plans for our lives. Here are eight verses that show us God’s nearness, even in those times we just don’t know what’s next.

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

We don’t have to lean on our own plans or our own understanding. God will make our paths straight in His perfect timing.

Proverbs 16:1-3

“To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

We want to make plans in our heart. That feels natural. Committing all of our plans to God, on the other hand, doesn’t always feel very natural. But if we can let go and trust God, He promises to establish our plans.

Matthew 6:31-34

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

And Jesus is clear that we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow. That’s easier said than done, but God will take care of us.

Luke 9:23-25

“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?’”

So the first step to knowing God’s plans for your life is to trust. Trust, and lose your life to God so that He can give you true life.

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.”

We might never truly understand what God’s plans are. He reveals our steps to us one at a time, and we don’t often see far into the distance.

James 4:13-17

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

But again, we don’t have to worry about tomorrow. Trust in the Lord’s will. Trust in His provision.

Matthew 28:18-20

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

God’s plans for your life can be found in the Great Commission. Though this doesn’t outline the step-by-step version so many of us seek, God has given us a clear mission to go and make disciples. He promises to be with us along the way.

Jeremiah 29:11-14

“‘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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’”

I’m ending with Jeremiah 29:11—because I couldn’t not include this verse in talking about God’s plans for our lives. It’s the verse everyone thinks of first when we’re talking about the future. In context, God is addressing the exiles in Babylon in this passage. He promises to bring His people back from exile. He promises to be found by them.

I love that promise: “I will be found by you.” If we seek God with all our hearts, He promises us the same.

Never forget… you are onederfully created by the One who promises to be found by you, if you only seek Him with all your heart.

Love,
Becca