The Sweet Assurance of God

Endings are always bittersweet for me. The ending of a good movie, my favorite song, or date night are just a few examples of the everyday endings that leave me feeling mostly satisfied but wanting more. Yet, the ending of a much-needed Christmas break spent with family, dorm life with my closest friends, and the final weeks of my college career leave me asking God to slow down the clock because “I’m not ready to be done yet.”

Bittersweet– to feel both happy and sad at the same time. No ratio or formula says how much of either you can feel before you are really just one feeling over the other. I would still consider what I feel about leaving my college life behind to be bittersweet, but most days, it is a lot more bitter and a lot less sweet. 

In having conversations with my friends, I know many people feel this way, whether it is because they are approaching graduation or just ending their junior year. At the close of each semester and the wrapping up of each year, the final ending starts moving closer and closer into sight. Feelings of excitement, anticipation, and readiness will surely come, but so will feelings of anxiety, longing, and doubt. 

If you are anything like me, a large part of you amid the overwhelming assignments, projects, and tests is saying yes! I am ready to be done with the schoolwork and start making money. How exciting will it be to look back at all of the sleepless nights spent cramming in study sessions or finalizing group projects the day before they are due and feel accomplished because you are done with that chapter as soon as you walk across the stage at graduation? Maybe you know exactly where you will end up working, and you just can’t wait to join a team of professionals and start putting your degree to work. 

At the end of every season is the beginning of a new one full of exciting opportunities and a sense of accomplishment that prepares us to take on what’s next. Nevertheless, in the end, there may likely be those not-so-positive feelings that creep in. Maybe college was the best four years of your life, and you don’t want to think about the fact that you won’t be able to eat dinner with eight of your best friends every night or that you won’t be able to make spontaneous midnight trips to get burritos with your roommates, or you realize that you won’t be able to walk into your professor’s office and talk about everything that is on your mind whenever you need to. 

As you reminisce on everything you will miss, thoughts of the future flood your mind, and feelings of sadness might turn to worry, anxiety, and fear. Where will you live if not with your friends? Where will you work when you are forced to leave your on-campus job and get your first 9-to-5? When will you go home and see your family if you no longer have Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Spring Break? All the unknowns begin taking over your thoughts, turning the sweet bitter. 

You are not alone in your confused feelings. Everyone is feeling some level of both positive and negative emotions as they near the end and prepare to open a new door. Thankfully, despite all of the doors closing, unknowns we are approaching, and the changes we will be forced to make, we have a God who is constant and is the only thing we do not have to fear leaving behind as we look to the future. 

Malachi 3:16 says, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” God’s abounding love for each of us, his steady provision, and the assurance of his word are never changing. Because of this, we can trust God in every season of our lives, whether we are graduating high school and heading off to college or now graduating college and heading into adulthood. God has remained the same throughout our lives and will remain the same in the coming days.

So, while we are feeling bittersweet with a little bit of anxiety and doubt, God is calling us into faithful obedience to him so we can turn our worries into rejoicing and be confident in what is in store. God is ready to fill this next season with the sweetest assurance only he can provide.