God in All Things | Zac Toimil ‘26
God knows what He’s doing, and you don’t. That is an uncomfortable yet necessary truth to digest, and it’s one that I still struggle with. I often feel as though I need to have a detailed, concrete plan for all things I do. I try to plan my days down to the second.
My main motivation in life prior to coming to UVA was to attain success. I thought that being successful meant being busy and always having something else to do. I was constantly trying to “make moves” so I could reach some sort of status in this world. However, since coming to UVA and growing in my faith, my definition of success has changed. To me now, being successful means being faithful and trusting in God in all I do.
Being a Perkins Fellow this year challenged me to view the issues of the world and serving others through a theological lens. As a newer Christian, I’ve been slowly learning how to mix faith with all aspects of my life instead of them naturally separating, like oil and water. I do religious things, school things, and work things—but the one thing I never did was mix the faith into the school things and the work things, despite God’s calling for us to prioritize Him in all we do.
Through volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Charlottesville this past year and discussing explicitly how my time there has shaped my faith through conversations at our Perkins Fellows meetings, I have been able to watch as God worked in and through me for building His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
God works through the mundane. In all things, God is at work. In every item I measured, every tag I placed, every rug I hung up on display, God was using the hands and feet He gave me, along with the time He blessed me with on this earth, to play a part in orchestrating His great plan. In all things, there is God.
This past year in Perkins Fellows has taught me that we do not need to know what God’s plan is for us in order to faithfully execute it. He will use us as He wishes, and it is just our job to obey. Even if it seems insignificant, God works all things—not just big things, but ALL things, big and seemingly insignificant—for His glory.