Where are you Going?

Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis is a Latin phrase that translates as “Where are you going?” This is a question I am currently asking myself and one that many of you may be asking yourselves as well. Maybe you just graduated from college, maybe you are looking for a new job, or maybe you are looking to move to a new place. No matter where you are in life or what kind of transition you may be facing, I want you to know that you are not alone. There are young adults everywhere asking this same question, “Where am I going?”

So, how do we find the answer? Unfortunately, I do not have the answer for you, but I hope that in sharing a little bit of my heart and my life with you, I may be able to help you discover the answer for yourself. 

"I am making all things new" ~Revelation 21:5

Growing up, I didn’t really face any big transitions in my life. I grew up in the same house since 2nd grade, and I pretty much went to school with generally all of the same people since 2nd grade. It wasn’t until the summer after my senior year of high school, when it was time to prepare for college, that I started to understand what transition really felt like. One evening in that final summer at my youth group, we were each given a verse from scripture to read, pray with, and reflect on. I received the verse, "I am making all things new" ~Revelation 21:5, and this truly was the first time in my life that I ever felt like all things were being made new. 

As I prepared for the move to Georgia Southern University, I realized that I didn’t know anyone going to this school and I was going to be in a new place with nothing familiar and completely out of my comfort zone. I knew this was where the Lord was calling me to go, but I couldn’t stop the doubts and fear that crept in. Honestly, I was afraid, but I surrendered this fear to the Lord, reminding myself that He who makes all things new has a plan for my life far greater than I could ever imagine. 

“Here I am; send me” ~Isaiah 6:8

Quo Vadis… “Where the heck am I going?” was the question I was asking myself at this point. But, this is where the Lord sent me, and so I went. And the last four years have been some of the greatest years of my life. I have encountered Jesus in so many different people and places because of my yes to God, because of my willingness to follow the Lord’s plan, even when everyone else thought I was crazy for going to college in another state. I have also been blessed with the opportunity to walk alongside other college students and minister to the youth at the parish in my college town, in hopes of sharing with them the love of Jesus Christ. 

As other transitions have come my way during college, I continue to be reminded of this verse, “Here I am; send me” ~Isaiah 6:8, because I know that the Lord’s plan for me is good and all I have to do is continue to listen to Him, do as He tells me to do and give Him my yes. The hardest part for me has always been hearing what the Lord is telling me, but if you are struggling with this, I promise you are overthinking it; you are making it harder than it is. If it sounds like God and looks like God, it probably is God. Don’t doubt Him and don’t doubt yourself. Just make sure you are giving Him preparing a place for Him to speak to you in the silence of your heart.  

“For I, the Lord, do not change, and you, sons of Jacob, do not cease to be.” ~Malachi 3:6

In the past few years I have learned that through the many transitions in life there is just one constant, and that is Jesus Christ. He will literally never leave, and He wants to accompany us through all of life, the good and the bad and everything in between. I realized that maybe there actually is an answer to this question “Where am I going?” I am going toward heaven; that is the end goal to this temporary life on earth. Every decision I make here on earth either leads me closer to heaven or farther from it. 

So, as I enter into another period of transition I try to remember that the Lord is my constant, and everything else is finite, temporary. I strive to keep my prayer life a priority, as well as my participation in the Sacraments, and I aim to have an active, obedient dependence on God, as he leads me where He wants me.