One of my favorite things to do as a kid was run off to the convenience store down from my neighborhood, search through the little book section they had, and find all of the Choose Your Own Adventure books that I could get my hands on. I would always sit down with it on my bed, and coach myself before opening it.

“Just do what you think will make the best ending. Read through it once, don’t skip back or ahead, and enjoy the story.”
However fast-forward ten minutes and you would see a child shuffling back and forth through every single page, scouring the little paperback for every possible ending to the story.

In some ways, these experiences jaded me as an adult. I look at my own life, and paired against the backdrop of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, the real world is so much more stressful.

It’s stressful because you get one shot to do the right thing. It’s stressful because, if you choose poorly, you can’t just flip back a few pages and try again.

If life were more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, it would not only have more dinosaurs and spies (the best of those books had both), it would make decisions much easier.

But for every moment that I feel jaded about not having the chance to go back and redo some of the major milestones in my life there are many more moments of joy in the realization that I have to fully rely on God.

It isn’t up to me to choose the right adventure for my life. God’s already planned it out. I don’t have the ability to look ahead a few pages and see how things will end up, but I do have the ability to rest in the knowledge that, so long as I follow Him, my story will have the best ending it possibly could have.

We are given this wisdom in Jeremiah:

<em>“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”</em> – Jeremiah 29:11

Sure, if I wanted to I could ruin the adventure by charging full-force towards what I feel the best ending would be. But just as on my bed as a kid, my idea of the best ending is never quite as good as the one I actually find by just sitting back and enjoying the story.

In my own life, the plans I have for myself will forever pale in comparison to the awesome things God wants to do through me…and through you…if we only let Him.

So the next time you find yourself wondering if you’re the best adventure has been chosen for your life, don’t be upset that you can’t read ahead.

Just rest in knowing that God can.