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Don’t be self-absorbed and fail to look around you. Notice that your friends, who are doing all of those things you refuse to do, are just crying out for attention because they come from unstable families. Some, through the dark of night, and behind closed doors, are actually going through the unimaginable.
Although your family has challenges of its own, with a handicapped father and a mother who needs to work long hours to provide for her family, you are loved. Your family is emotionally healthy and your friends sense it. They gravitate towards your home. Open the doors and let them in. I know that because you are an only child, sharing is difficult, but you can share your parents because they have enough love to go around.
Before you know it you will be applying to college. You’ll be a step ahead since you have known, for years, exactly what you wanted to be and your high school courses have all been planned accordingly. Your grades won’t be stellar but you’ve got this. Don’t let your co-op advisor deter you, or make you feel like you’re not good enough. He may think you need to be a man to be an Architect, but show him he’s wrong.
I would suggest that when you apply to college - DON’T JUST APPLY TO ONE! Apply to a few so that if (rather when) you don’t get into your first choice you have options. Don’t be discouraged, know that God has a better plan than the one you imagine. Just go with the flow.
Fast forward…
As you turn thirty years old you will look back over the previous ten years and recognize they did not go according to your plans. Yes, you graduate but the economy ruins your dreams of continuing in architecture. You return to school multiple times striving toward new dreams but all of those programs and diplomas will fall short. They will end up being a waste of time and money. They certainly won’t bring you the joy you’re looking for.
You’ll gain stable employment but non-profit wages won’t sustain you long-term. You will eventually stop focusing on your career and begin to focus on the only true dream you have for this lifetime — a husband, who puts the Lord first, and at least two children (because you know what being an only child is like). Don’t give up on this dream but be patient as it won’t happen as early as you would like it to.
You have a habit of never just enjoying where you are. You’re always focused on the next thing you want out of life. As you date, you will be focused on marriage. Once married, you will long for children. Once the kids come, you will watch over them as they sleep, wondering how you’re ever going to make it through and be a good mom. Trust me, it all works out in the end and you end up with a couple of amazing kids.
Eventually, you will reflect on life lived and accept that it didn’t end up the way you imagined it would. You’ll realize, it turned out better. There is One who has bigger and better dreams for you, and He has a way of working things out according to His purposes for your life.
In fact, what would you think if I told you that one day…you will be a writer?
Dana-Lyn is a wife, and mother to teenage boys as well as a 14-year-old cava-poo named Hockley. She is passionate about encouraging Christian women in their faith and is stepping into her mid-life "calling" as a writer. Her happy place consists of a comfy chair, a great book, a hot cup of coffee and a chocolate…or three! You can read more of her work at https://plansfargreater.substack.com
Thank you, Dana-Lyn, for this lovely letter to your younger self focusing on how our plans may not always come to fruition, but that God is with us all the way, guiding and leading us into the "bigger and better dreams" he has for us. Being patient as we wait for those dreams to be fulfilled can be challenging, but confidence and trust in the one who made us will take us through.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post, Dana-Lyn. Thank you for giving us this glimpse of the person you were becoming. And here you are... a writer!
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