Dear Stephanie

Dear Steph,

 Life moves so fast. High school feels like days ago, college only seconds before.

In junior high you’d dream of your high school proms. And then as a junior in high school, you’d wish it to be your senior year already. And then once senior year rolled in, you dreamt of your future dorm room, college boys and late night talks with your new best friends.

Then college came, dreams of the future, of engagements and weddings, perfect jobs and perfect lives piled up in your mind, and then the real life you had always dreamt of, the one you had always wanted, suddenly and quickly began. You graduated, you were finally free.

And then you felt like decisions had to be made, jobs had to be found, structure had to be created- adult life was here and you needed to fully embrace the daily rituals and routines that came with that new ‘title.’

And now here you are, sitting in Southern California, wondering what is coming next. But as you sit here, writing to yourself, dreaming of the future again, I want to tell you something.

Stop.

Stop wishing it all away. Stop rushing your life.

Stop thinking there needs to be structure, that there needs to be a plan. Stop thinking that driving to get coffee with your dear friend and chasing her 10 month old baby around the house is a waste of your Friday afternoon.

Stop comparing yourself to her life or her Instagram.

Stop feeling bad for hitting snooze too many times or dropping one too many dollars on a chai tea latte.

Stop thinking that there is more to life than what you already have. Stop wishing away your first teaching job before it even begins.

Please Steph, just stop.

Stop because you are hurting yourself. And you are hurting your Father.

Because your new job is exactly where your Heavenly Father wants you to be. Those “lazy” days are actually a beautiful and perfect gift from above. And that snooze button is a good thing.

Nothing is promised. Not even tomorrow. So stop wishing these moments away, stop day dreaming that life could be ‘that much better.’ Because it can’t, because life is perfect exactly where you are.

You are exactly where you should be.

Don’t let comparison steal your joy. Don’t let the world tell you how you should be living your life. And don’t you dare ever let yourself think that you and His plan for your life isn’t good enough, that you don’t do enough. Because you do. You do more than enough. You and your life is more than enough.

‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

That is what Jesus wants from you. He wants you to rejoice wherever you are, to pray without ceasing and to be thankful in each and every circumstance, for that is His will for you.

His will for you.

That is His will for you.

So do it. Dance because of where He has brought you, laugh in fear and in joy that He is holding your future and plans in His hands, and breathe gosh dang it, because the only thing that matters is that He made you for this life, and He wants you to live it.

So live it, and don’t you dare look back.

-Steph

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Whoever is reading this, please don’t miss this: Your will, your job on this earth is to live your life and live it well, giving all the praise and glory to Him while doing it. I don’t want you to miss any of it guys. I don’t want you to have any regrets. I don’t want you to wish like me that with every fiber in your being you could soak in just a few more moments of your home back in Prague or walk just one more of those frigid walks across campus in February. I am determined to start living fearlessly and boldly, believing that my life was created to be lived, to point back to Him, and to be enjoyed. And gosh I just want that for you too. So live guys. Just live for Him and don’t let anyone tell you differently.