Hey, you, reader. You don’t have to be afraid. Yes, you, the one with a shoddier job market waiting for you than your parents, a less certain housing situation, and pressure to have it all together already. Or, you, reader, the one with a varied and painful romantic past. Or you, the one quietly figuring out where your life will go, trying to work hard and stay true to your friends and family.
Future fear getting the better of you? There’s a guy in the Bible called Jabez who gets only two short verses. But what he says speaks for *volumes* of books (and there have been volumes of books, and inspirational posters, and bracelets…). Jabez got the value of asking God to bless his future. ‘Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!”’ (ESV). Guy freakin’ gets it. He welcomed God into his future, and depended on God being in that future. Are you struggling to let go of pain? Know that God doesn’t waste anything you’ve been through. Struggling to see a future? God won’t just protect you, He’ll enlarge your life, for good ends and for His closer and closer friendship every day. Every day and in every way, you, reader, are getting more glorious.

What Now?
Write Jabez’s prayer, small, in the middle of the biggest piece of paper you can find and put it on your wall. No matter where you are in life, God has expanses of goodness waiting for you, in YOUR life, not way off in the clouds somewhere.