10 Verses For When It Feels Like You’re Getting Left Behind

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1

One thing you should know about me is that I am a planner. I like to know what’s going on. I love details. And I thrive when I have my calendar in order. There’s just something peaceful and comforting about knowing what’s going on and when things are supposed to happen.

But if I’m being honest, these aspects of my personality can cause me some frustration and pain. After all, life rarely goes according to plan. And even with the most detailed, color-coordinated calendar, you don’t always know when and how things are going to happen.

I think that’s why I liked being in school so much. The pattern was predictable. The schedule was planned out for years in advance. Year after year, I knew what the next step was. I knew after 5th grade, I would start middle school. I knew after 8th grade, I would start high school. I knew after 12th grade, I would start college. I always knew what was coming next, and I knew exactly where I was supposed to be at each point in my life.

But after I graduated from college, I realized very quickly that that kind of structure doesn’t last. Not everyone abides by the same schedule and the same timeline, even though that’s what I was hoping for. So many people I knew met their spouse in college, got married right after graduation, started working a great job, bought a house, and started having kids a few years later. It was what seemed like the perfect template, and I planned for my life to follow it exactly.

News flash: it didn’t.

My life didn’t look like that at all. I didn’t get married until I was 29. I didn’t get a full-time job I really loved until I was 26. I lived in a lot of apartments before I got to own a home. And the kids thing is still a ways down the road (however, that I’m perfectly okay with).

I remember several times throughout the years after college when I would watch my friends and former classmates get the “template life” I wanted. It was in those moments I felt like I was falling behind. It felt like God was pressing the accelerator on all of their plans and dreams, but He was pumping the brakes on mine. It was frustrating, disappointing, and discouraging all at the same time. I would do my part – searching for jobs, going on dates, saving money – but things just weren’t falling into place exactly the way I’d hoped.

But it took me going through that season, it took not getting the “template life” I wanted to realize that God had a different plan for my life. And as my dad often tells me, “Just because something is different doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.”

God didn’t orchestrate His plan for my life incorrectly. It wasn’t the wrong plan just because it didn’t match the plan I thought would take place. And I definitely wasn’t getting left behind like I thought I was. My path was just different. It took some different turns. I hit a few more red lights than I expected. But it’s still been a beautiful, fruitful, and rewarding path.

The same is true for you, friend. No matter where you are right now, God isn’t leaving you behind. He hasn’t forgotten about you. And He’s not orchestrating His plan for your life in the wrong way. He knows what He’s doing. His timing always has a way of working out for the best. So just trust Him. And when you need a pick me up, you can read over and meditate on the verses below. They’ve brought me a lot of encouragement in the seasons where I’ve felt left behind, and I have no doubt they’ll do the same for you.

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For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. – Habakkuk 2:3

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1

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. – Isaiah 40:31

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! – Psalm 27:14

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. – Lamentations 3:25-26

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. – Acts 1:7

You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me. – Genesis 16:13

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. – Psalm 56:8

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. – Luke 12:6-7