Spiritual Formation | 12/2/2025 9:38:00 AM

Written by: Parker Hazen

"Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during the harvest. Yet, as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing." – Joshua 3:15-16
 
After graduating from Lipscomb in 2022, I had my plan. Not only did I have a plan following graduation, like most people, I had my five-year plan. Check this off, then that, get there. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
 
Roughly four-months later, that plan had been crumbled up and thrown in the trash; not because of open doors, but because of a door I felt God was trying to close; which I reluctantly accepted.
 
This initiated a chain reaction of doubt and threw me into a pit that I had never experienced before. For the next several months, the only words that came out of my mouth – or at least felt like it – were "I don't know."
 
My faith is telling me that God has something in store for me, but the world is telling me I am unemployed. It has been fourteen months since my last collegiate basketball game, twelve months since graduating, and only seven months since taking my first job out of school.
 
One thing I felt like I was learning throughout that journey, and the message I hope to relay to you all is this: If you wait until God dries up the Jordan before you take a step, you will be stuck on the shore.
 
Whatever God is calling you into, chances are you aren't going to have the whole picture; not because God wants you to stress, to worry, or because He doesn't love you. More so than not, it's because there is a level of growth that needs to take place before we enter where God is calling us.
 
The circumstance you are asking God to change may be the very circumstance He is using to change you. It's not until you get to the other side of the Jordan that you realize all that God did; but we must have faith to take that first step.
 
If there is one thing I can encourage you with is this: God has gone before you and is beside you. He has been where you are going and fought the battles for you. Be confident in taking that first step.