I really love a foggy day. There’s just something about the way light dissipates and creates a haze around everything. It makes me think of chilly autumn days, somethings I didn’t really get to experience down here in Florida. You can see in a general sense of where you are headed, but the details get murky. It’s a fun thing to experience, but only in nature. When it comes to our minds, mental fog can really dishearten and muddle your sense of purpose.

I’ve been pretty tired recently. Galaxy’s Edge has been great, and a lot of cool things have happened to me there. I’ve been able to step into more leadership through different roles, which I’m thankful for the opportunity and that my leadership sees my leadership qualities, but some of these roles require much later nights. I’ve learned I am not a night person and my routines have been flipped all sorts of ways. In the recent couple of days, the people I work with have had their lives flipped around as well. With the preventative measures of this virus, Disney closed the parks, meaning for someone like dear Danielle and myself, we get an unplanned vacation, but it meant that the college program was shut down. In a day, so many of my friends and fellow cast lost their jobs. It’s been a heartbreaking couple of days, and I know that it has created a large fog in the heads of so many people.

I had a moment like this in my life not long ago. I was a pastor and thought that this one direction was the way to go, that the path was so clear. I was at point a, and point b just made sense. But it didn’t happen that way, I was let go. Why? The path I was on made sense, but sometimes the plan that we are comfortable in is not what will produce growth and give you a greater purpose. The environment I was in wasn’t for me, I was comfortable and it was easy, but it didn’t mesh with who God made me to be. From that point I chose to let God direct us and move us. I chose to traverse the fog, the unknowns that were in front of me.

Sometimes this fog can be major; like a job change, the end of a relationship, or a big move. It can also be small things; like a schedule change, a lifestyle shift, or cutting out bad habits. I feel like in all of these, a fog is created in our minds. We ask questions like, “how are we going to make it through this?” “How can my heart can handle this?” “What happens now?”

In the questions that create a fog, take heart, this is a place of growth.

The fog isn’t a bad place to be, it’s just unknown. In the unknown, you have to make choices. You have a blank slate to move forward. I think about my situation now, after shifting here to Galaxy’s Edge, I have a story of where I came from, I know the culture I like and don’t like, so now I get to cultivate that where I am now. As I step into new responsibilities, I have a chance to walk into this unknown and figure out what fuels me and what might be something I can let go of.

For my friends in the college program, who may or may not be reading this. You have a chance now to continue in your journey, using what you have learned and the experiences made to step further into what you dream of.

For those of you reading this who feel stuck in this fog, you have a chance to look introspectively. To see if who you are is who God made you to be, or if you are trying to fit a mold you were never designed for.

The fog is a place of growth.

As I was wrestling with God about what’s next for dear Danielle and I, he brought to my mind a verse in scripture and an image from scripture that I keep going back to.

James 1:2-3 says:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

I love the beauty of this verse.

We can have joy in the fog knowing that this will strengthen us.

Historically too, this scripture would be showing all the trials that the early church had faced, as well as even earlier when the Jews were originally enslaved back in Egypt. In that season of wandering, their needs were met at just the right times. They were lead through water when the path seemed to have ended, they had food rain from the sky when the people began to starve, and water spilled from a rock when the crowd became thirsty. What I love about this imagery is that God provides for us when we choose to have faith in him, it comes at just the right time, all we are called to do is follow him.

I don’t know what you might be feeling and I don’t know what you might be walking in, but I do know that you have been created by a powerful creator who is with you in the fog. You are never truly alone in this, you just have to trust in him. Just like in actual fog, while you may not see far in front of you, you can see the ground and put your feet on the path. One step at a time, take on this challenge, having faith knowing that this is a place of growth and that this is strengthening you. Traverse the fog, no matter how big or small it feels, you are loved by God, it’s time to trust him.

-Joshua Thomas

About the Author: Joshua Thomas is a writer by day and superhero by night. When he’s not writing and crimefighting, you can find him reading a good book, sipping warm tea, taking pictures, or dreaming. The young writer doesn’t fully know what he’s doing, but is enjoying the journey of it all. You can tweet memes at him on Twitter @joshua_thomas__ or follow his hipster photos and Jack Kerouac musings on Instagram @joshua_thomas__