The Best is Yet to Come

College is such an interesting season of life because you never really know what’s around the next corner. Those years have a funny way of making it feel like your whole life is up in the air, hinging on your next exam, your acceptance into a certain program, or meeting “the one” in your next biology class. There’s constant change and every semester is completely different from the last: new classes, new professors, new dorms or apartments, new friendships, and maybe even a new relationship. No matter if you’re a freshman staring down the next four years, or a senior staring into the real world, most of the time college just feels unknown. And an unknown future can feel scary—even terrifying. 

Usually the unknown is scary because we assume the worst. As we approach new horizons, many of us are quick to assume that our best days are behind us. I remember being told that college should be the best four years of my life, and being terrified on my graduation day that the best days of my life were in the past. Thank goodness that was completely untrue! While life may hold some unknowns, one thing we do know is that, as believers, our best days are never behind us. 

Beauty in the Unknown

An unknown future isn’t a bad thing—not even close. There’s a terrifying beauty in an unknown future, because of the possibility that there’s something greater than you’ve ever known or dared to imagine ahead of you—and that’s hope. Hope is believing that the best days you’ve ever known are not behind you. Hope is believing that the best is yet to come. 

When you believe that the best is yet to come when you live with that kind of hope, your perspective changes. You look forward to what’s next instead of looking longingly toward what was. As Paul says in Philippians, you forget what’s behind and you strain forward to what’s ahead (3:13–14). You look for open doors, you live with open hands, and you love with an open heart. You give yourself permission to dream big dreams, and on your saddest days you never allow the enemy to feed you the lie that you’ll never be happy again. When you live like the best is yet to come, fear doesn’t own you, but instead hope defines you. 

Our Plans in God’s Hands

But it’s hard to live like that in college when life seems so up in the air. It’s hard not to be afraid of the future or long for the past. It’s hard to be confident that somehow, through all the struggles and mistakes, that God is still working something beautiful in your life—and even if it looks nothing like you imagined it would, it can still be amazing.

God promises us in Scripture that He is capable of doing immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). That means that if you can ask for it or if you can imagine it, then it’s only a shadow of what God is capable of doing in and through you for His glory. I look back now at what my college freshman self imagined my life would look like, and I can’t tell you how incredibly different it is—and yet, I wouldn’t change it. I’m so thankful that God did what I couldn’t imagine or plan for myself. Praise God that when we have no idea what’s ahead, we are perfectly positioned for Him to do far more than anything we could ever hope for. 

Our Eternal Hope

When we live in the truth of God’s promises, we have no choice but to believe that the best is yet to come. As Christians, there is glory waiting to be revealed to us that will make every struggle we’ve faced on this earth pale in comparison. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, your best days are not even going to be spent on this broken earth, but your best days will be spent in the eternal presence of the King of kings. You’ll never look back longingly at even your greatest day of this life. Praise God, that’s good news! In fact, that’s the good news, the gospel message—your best days are waiting for you. 

Wisdom from the Word:

Ephesians 3:20; Romans 8:18, 24–25; Philippians 3:12–15

*This post is an adapted excerpt from our Dear College Girl devotional. Dear College Girl is packed with wisdom and encouragement for young women navigating the college years and makes a great gift for a graduate! Find it in the Well-Watered Co.!

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