Meet my Baker University softball team.

In November, I accepted the incredible opportunity to be an assistant coach for these 17 women and along two incredible coaches. Let me tell you how I got here.

Towards the end of my season with the Chicago Bandits, all my teammates, coaches, fans, friends, and family started to ask me the question: so, what are you going to do when you get back to Lawrence? They all wondered, since I was the only person on my team who hadn’t voiced plans for graduate school, a job, or to play abroad.

At first, I started seriously saying, “I think I am going to do private lessons, but nothing’s set.”
Then, I started jokingly saying, “I’m going to be a house wife.”
After even more time and questioning, I started honestly saying, “I have no idea.”

All I knew was that I needed some time off. I needed to rest. Thankfully, I had a husband who fully supported that decision and a small pot of savings. I rested almost two months from working, school, and softball for the first time in a very long time.

Then October came, and while I started giving some private lessons, I knew that it was about time that I started figuring out the next step. I started to seek the Lord and as I did, I kept hearing Him softly nudging, wait. He had yet to reveal His plans. It was not yet His timing.

Let’s put this into context and see what God’s Word says.

Matthew 6:33-34 says, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Psalm 105:4 says, “Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His presence continually!”

Psalm 37:4-5 & 7 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act… Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”

Isaiah 40:30-31 says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

He calls us to seek Him and to wait on Him. When we do that, He gives us peace for the future and strength for the present. In Him, we conquer the unknown.

Easier said then done! But the reward that comes from waiting patiently far outweighs the process! As October came to an end, and the unknown become way too familiar, the opportunity was presented to me where I was least expecting it. I had no idea that the Lord wanted me to coach college softball, at least not this year! By November, surely there are no college coaching jobs open, right? Right… except by Divine Intervention. The odds that a job would open at a college within a 20-mile radius of Lawrence, Kan., that late into the academic year are beyond calculating. When God opened up this door for me, I knew without a doubt that this was His will, His timing. For the next six months, He desired me to coach college softball at Baker University.

Before the first weekend out, a couple of the seniors approached me to ask if I would be willing to pray for the team before every game. It was never something the team had done in the past, but always wished was a part of their pregame routine. So before every first game of the day, we all stood in a circle, all 17 girls and me, and we prayed. We lifted up the game to the Lord and asked that we would be able to have fun, play not for ourselves but for each other, and to play for God’s glory. Our season came to an end this past weekend as we competed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament as a #4 seed before losing in the quarterfinals, just shy of a Regional bid. Yet more importantly, as their coach, I built trusted relationships with the girls and I was able to motivate when needed and to be a voice of positivity when times were tough. All by the grace of God!

Looking back to a year ago, even seven months ago, never would I have ever imagined myself to be in this place. Yet in the freedom to trust, have faith, and wait patiently on the Lord, in the midst of relentlessly seeking Him first in my life despite my selfish desires, He provided.

In this life, we all stand face-to-face with the unknown. From degree and career choices, to injuries, to sick family and friends, we come to learn with time that there is only so much of life that we can control. What is unknown, we are called to have faith, wait patiently on the Lord, and to seek Him continually. God knows. He has a perfect plan for your life.

In light of the unknown in your life, read Romans 8:18-39.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose… We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

He has a plan. By Him, we are conquerors.