Just about a month of being 30 under my belt. Am I sad? No. I’m excited. A year ago, I was in the mindset of, “oh no, it’s the last year of my twenties.” What have I accomplished? What’s my plan? How am I going to get everything I want done.
The truth is, not everything can be done or ever will be done. I’ve improved on goal setting and I finally bought my own car. I’ve been at my current job for four years and making a steady income that pays the bills. Blogging about Texas and faith in my spare time. I’m not anywhere near where twenty year-old me thought I’d be.
Funny thing is, I actually have way less debt than I would have had. So life’s pretty great right? Of course it’s not perfect but I’m happy. Remember those guides and outlines you got from your high school counselors to plan out your life? I threw that out the window in college.
The other day I went to a bible study and the readings reminded me that it’s all there in the Bible:
For God, who told the light to shine out of darkness, has shined a light into our hearts, to illuminate the knowledge of the splendor of God, in the person of Christ Jesus.
But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, so that what is sublime may be of the power of God, and not of us.
In all things, we endure tribulation, yet we are not in anguish. We are constrained, yet we are not destitute.
We suffer persecution, yet we have not been abandoned. We are thrown down, yet we do not perish.
We ever carry around the mortification of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are ever handed over unto death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Therefore, death is at work in us, and life is at work in you.
But we have the same Spirit of faith. And just as it is written, “I believed, and for that reason I spoke,” so we also believe, and for that reason, we also speak.
For we know that the One who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and will place us with you.
Thus, all is for you, so that grace, abounding through many in thanksgiving, may abound to the glory of God.
For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day.
For though our tribulation is, at the present time, brief and light, it accomplishes in us the weight of a sublime eternal glory, beyond measure.
And we are contemplating, not the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, whereas the things that are not seen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:5-18
Every step I have taken, people I’ve met, my crazy family and crazy friends, and even my silly blind dog (that loves to play fetch) were all already planned out for me.
My guide in life is my Bible, teaching me how to let the Lord’s light shine through me in all that I do. There have been bumps and bruises this far, and there will most likely be more, but this is my 30 with God in my heart…and a glass of wine.
XOXO,
Sydney Charming
The Southern Tx Charm 