Finding that elusive life plan

When I was a little girl, missionaries would often come and speak at my church. I would listen, wide-eyed, to their trials and victories, of their wonderful and glorious days, and of the struggles they faced. I remember vehemently telling my mother that "I'll do anything for God except be a missionary. I would just be too scared to go far away from home." My mom would just laugh, and say God would prepare me for whatever He called me to do.
 I just couldn't see myself as a missionary in Africa, thousands of miles away from home.
Then at the beginning of this year, I spent two months in northern Uganda, loving on people and sharing my love for this great, great God.
As you can see, my perspective has changed quite a bit.

Instead of thinking I know what's best for my life, I'm much better off letting God be the one who judges that. Having said that, I think He does gift you with talents and abilities that better suit you for one purpose or another. He isn't going to prepare you to be a teacher if you are supposed to be a doctor. He isn't going to guide you into working with the elderly if your heart yearns to comfort and protect small children.

Yet sometimes what I think I want isn't really what I want. I can make all these plans, decide my life for the next four years, but when the time comes down to make a decision, I will suddenly realize "That just doesn't sound good to me anymore." I am beyond thankful for the God who is the same "yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). Enough things change in life (including my mind). I need something constant to guide me! His will is eternal.

 "For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

The book He has written for my life  is already in place and if I follow His will then my life will be worthwhile. This doesn't mean that I am not supposed to make decisions. I cannot just sit back and wait for God to speak in loud declarations. I can't assume that because I pray, I will never make mistakes, and every choice I make will be the right one. No. I'll try things out and decide they are not for me. I will have long "waiting" periods, where I work just like any normal American citizen, and do important things in a less obvious way. But in all of this, God's will is triumphant.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

I know I am called to greater things. "Greater things" meaning a life that isn't like the average American citizens'. I believe I am called to be a missionary in some way, every day, wherever that may be. I believe I am called to change the world as much as I can however I can; building God's kingdom wherever I go.
Yet sometimes that looks overwhelmingly... normal. I'm a nanny, as a matter of fact, and the most evangelizing I do is when I tell a toddler that Jesus loves him farther than the moon and back. Instead of reaching out to strangers in a third world country I am reaching for burp rags, bottles, balls in the street, and sippy cups. I always have spit-up on my shirt. There's hardly a moment when I don't have my eyes glued to a kid or two. I love it. I'm fully confident that this is where God wants me. This is my present "mission field" although it's not a mission to "save the lost". I am learning to be a servant and to care for other peoples' needs and wants, more so than ever before .

There is something so gloriously satisfying about knowing where you are is right where you are supposed to be. I'm not going to lie, I wonder a million times through the day what else God has in store for my life. Yet all I need to think about is the NOW. There are many amazing things to see and learn and discover in every single day. I don't want to miss a thing.
So live in the present, and let God bring you to the next step of your future when He is ready. It may not be anything like you ever dreamed. It will be even better.