One Day at a Time

It’s been my motto for the past three years. “One day at a time.”

Through two seasons of unemployment, while battling chronic stress, in the middle of the uncertainty and everyday stressors that we all experience—all I could do was repeat those words, “One day at a time.”

For the past several months, God has been showing me what it means to live by those five words in an even deeper way. So, for the one who is currently in a season of waiting and living through uncertainty, I hope this post can be an encouragement.

Due to life’s circumstances lately, I’ve had no choice but to take it one day at a time. It occurred to me— isn’t this how we are meant to live our lives as Christians anyways?

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” -Proverbs 16:3

I’ve been planning a wedding, preparing for marriage, getting ready to transition to military life as a military spouse, with a whole lot of unknowns before us. We don’t know if we’ll be able to take our Plan A Honeymoon, so we have a backup plan. We don’t know where we’ll be moving to until a couple weeks before our wedding—a move that will take us to one of three cities in three completely different states. And, then we’ll have to find a house to move into. Not to mention, there’s the possibility that I could lose my job depending on where we get stationed.

To say it’s been a stressful season would be an understatement. But, there’s something that I’ve really been learning in this season. A lot of our everyday stress comes from our need for control, and our desire to know what is happening next so that we can plan for it. This is not how we were created to live. There’s a different way.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” -Proverbs 16:9

Gently, the LORD has been reminding me—your steps are ordered by Me. Don’t place your expectations in your plans, place your expectations in Me.

When it’s hard to see our way through, when we want to know what’s happening, we have to surrender, let go, and trust that God is ordering our steps, placing us exactly where we’re meant to be—for His purpose and His glory.

We might not be able to take our Plan A Honeymoon (which we completely recognize is an absolute privilege that we even get to plan one at all), I might lose my job, and moving across the country might be a little chaotic, but it’s going to be okay. In fact, it’s going to be better than okay, because we can rest in the truth that the LORD is walking with us, He is establishing our steps, and ultimately, He’s bringing us closer to Him in the process. What a gift!

When we get our eyes off our external circumstances and the things that we can’t control, we can turn our eyes to a God who is in control and is capable of doing far more than what we can do on our own. We can bring our stress, frustration and disappointment to Him and He can take it from us, hold it, and replace it with something else in our hands—peace, love, joy, gratitude.

Above all else, I have come to discover that choosing gratitude is the anchor of Christian living. Yes, it’s been a stressful season. Transitions are hard in and of itself, but I’ve been here before—exactly three years ago, I left everything I had known behind and embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. I left my job, my friends and my church community, and moved halfway across the country—not knowing all that I was about to gain. I wouldn’t trade that decision for the world.

There was a lot of uncertainty during that season. So many unknowns. An emotional rollercoaster. But through it all, I learned what it meant to abide in Christ and just take it one day at a time. The sooner we learn to let go, the easier it is to embrace what God has for us—not for tomorrow, but for today. That’s all God has gifted us with anyways.

This is what I’ve had to keep reminding myself of: Stop trying to figure it all out. Life is not straightforward. We live in a broken world, with a lot of plot twists along the way. You’re not the Author, nor are you the main character in your story. God is. Trust the process. Trust His plans and His ways. Surrender yourself over to them.

There is only one thing for certain: God is in control. He loves you and I. Nothing is ever going to change that. He died for our sins, that we might spend forevermore with Him. And one day, He’s coming back for His church—His bride. When I choose to focus on these truths, it gets my eyes off myself and sets my gaze on what I’ve been meant to be gazing on all along.

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” -Psalm 27:4

My Plan A might not come to fruition, but God’s Plan A will—and that fills me with hope and joy.

Here’s the invitation. Take a deep breath. Gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. Ask Him to show Himself to you today. And, ask for His help to help you live right where He has planted you—just one day a time.