Trusting The One Holding The Pen
10/9/2026 2:13:00 PM | Spiritual Formation
Written by: Malachi Jones
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It's been two and a half years since I left Lipscomb, and it's strange to say that out loud, because some seasons in your life don't fade with time. They leave lasting effects. My years at Lipscomb were like that for me. The longer I sit with those memories, the more I see God's fingerprints all over them, preparing me for a road I couldn't yet see.
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One of the verses that best captures my time at Lipscomb is this: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). It's one of those verses you can read, nod along to, and move on from. But when you actually live it out, it becomes one of those verses that fills your heart with gratitude for the God you serve.
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I had a plan. Stay at Lipscomb all four years, graduate, maybe find a wife along the way. It felt like a good plan, safe, sensible, mine. But God was already writing something better, something with more anticipation and more grace than I knew to ask for. I left Lipscomb early. I met the woman who would become my wife. That wasn't my plan, it was His. And it's been a thousand times sweeter than the one I'd drawn up myself.
That same truth has kept meeting me since. As an athlete in New York, I had visions for how my career would go, how my marriage would grow. But God, again and again, has gently, and sometimes not so gently, shown me that His plans are better than mine.
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A brutal injury sidelined me for nearly two years. It was not in my script. But in that stretch of pain and waiting, God did something in me I couldn't have manufactured on my own. He gave me a voice for my faith I didn't have before, a chance to be honest about what it looks like to trust Him when nothing is going the way you hoped. That season made me a better teammate, and I pray, a better ambassador for his kingdom. And on the other side of it, He's blessed my marriage beyond what I can put into words, my wife and I are now expecting our first child.
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If I had gotten my own way, back at Lipscomb or here in New York, I have to believe I would have settled for so much less than what God had in mind. So if there's one thing I'd want to leave with anyone reading this, it's this: don't be afraid to let go of your own plans. Hold them loosely. Trust that the Author of your story is a better writer than you are, and that the chapters He's writing, even the hard ones, are leading somewhere good.
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He is holding the pen. Let Him.
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It's been two and a half years since I left Lipscomb, and it's strange to say that out loud, because some seasons in your life don't fade with time. They leave lasting effects. My years at Lipscomb were like that for me. The longer I sit with those memories, the more I see God's fingerprints all over them, preparing me for a road I couldn't yet see.
Â
One of the verses that best captures my time at Lipscomb is this: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). It's one of those verses you can read, nod along to, and move on from. But when you actually live it out, it becomes one of those verses that fills your heart with gratitude for the God you serve.
Â
I had a plan. Stay at Lipscomb all four years, graduate, maybe find a wife along the way. It felt like a good plan, safe, sensible, mine. But God was already writing something better, something with more anticipation and more grace than I knew to ask for. I left Lipscomb early. I met the woman who would become my wife. That wasn't my plan, it was His. And it's been a thousand times sweeter than the one I'd drawn up myself.
That same truth has kept meeting me since. As an athlete in New York, I had visions for how my career would go, how my marriage would grow. But God, again and again, has gently, and sometimes not so gently, shown me that His plans are better than mine.
Â
A brutal injury sidelined me for nearly two years. It was not in my script. But in that stretch of pain and waiting, God did something in me I couldn't have manufactured on my own. He gave me a voice for my faith I didn't have before, a chance to be honest about what it looks like to trust Him when nothing is going the way you hoped. That season made me a better teammate, and I pray, a better ambassador for his kingdom. And on the other side of it, He's blessed my marriage beyond what I can put into words, my wife and I are now expecting our first child.
Â
If I had gotten my own way, back at Lipscomb or here in New York, I have to believe I would have settled for so much less than what God had in mind. So if there's one thing I'd want to leave with anyone reading this, it's this: don't be afraid to let go of your own plans. Hold them loosely. Trust that the Author of your story is a better writer than you are, and that the chapters He's writing, even the hard ones, are leading somewhere good.
Â
He is holding the pen. Let Him.
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