He is still good

Almost two weeks ago I graduated from Biola University. Thinking about finishing almost automatically makes me think of where I began.

As freshmen you are generally asked 3 questions:

What is your name?
What are you studying?
Where are you from?

Here are my answers:
Amanda Gayle Wheeler
Accounting and International Business
Sammamish, WA (Seattle)

Freshmen year, everything and everyone is new. When meeting new people you try to find something in common. What are you studying would hopefully mean that you will have classes together. You will need these people to help you study for exams or give you notes when you decided you would rather go to Disneyland than sit through a lecture. If you are not in the same classes, where are you from would give you a chance to talk about home. You can reminisce about landmarks or the local drama. The last option is what is your name. If all else fails at finding a commonality, you can share in the childhood trauma that you experienced because of nicknames you were given. I have heard Mandio (after Mario), the endearing Amanda-Panda, and my personal favorite, A-Man-Da!

Back in freshmen year on the first day on campus, all business majors had to take a Calculus placement test. I was sitting in the room with two thoughts running through my head: "He's cute, Ooo, him too, I hope I have a class with that one", and "why is it so hot in California?!?!" when all of a sudden I hear "Hi, my name is Amanda." I perk up like a meerkat. Name? Someone with my Name? It's almost like an instant bond to share a name. I did not meet that Amanda until Sophomore year, but we made the best of three years of friendship and will hopefully have many more.

Now as a Senior, you are asked 3 similar, yet very different questions:

What is your name?
Because let's be honest, we still don't know each other. At the Business major senior banquet, I sat next to someone I had never seen in my time at Biola.
Who are you studying?
I lived in a house with 6 other girls and it took one of them a good month and a half to figure out that this boy liked her because he would come over to study and then he wouldn't leave...
Where are you going?
College is about results and what you are going to do with you $120,000 education.

Again here are my answers:
Still Amanda Gayle Wheeler
I lack the ring by spring
I am going to Deloitte in Costa Mesa, CA

Many times when we talk about where we are going after college, it seems like the token graduation advice is to say "just trust that God will provide you with the right job to glorify him." I don't feel like I can offer this encouragement because that would be too easy for me to say and fairly obnoxious because I have had a job since November. However there is something else that I feel like I can contribute to this post-grad conversation about uncertainty.

From the outside my job looks perfect, but I want to share a little more about that story.

The theme of my time at Biola has been about learning to submit areas of my life to God. Last year it was about submitting my singleness and still being willing to worship God as the great planner. This year it has appropriately been about submitting my life after college.

You see I am from Washington, I love the rain, I miss the mountains, and I could care less about the beach.

But 4 years ago God called me to California and back in November He said "stay." Yes I have a job, yes it's at the firm I wanted, and yes it's in the field I wanted. But something about that "stay" was so heartbreaking despite the clarity that I was praying for. So by all accounts, my future looks like a 9.5 out of 10. But I still have to trust that in the 0.5 part God planed it as a perfect 10. And despite what I think would be a awesome plan, He knows what's best.

So while I don't feel like I can encourage you to keep your chin up and keep looking for a job, I do feel like I can say that even though you may not be where you want to be, maybe you don't have a job or a significant other, or you are moving back in with your parents or not going home at all, God is still God and He is good, and He is sovereign, and He is a better navigator of our lives than we could ever be.