Although these are not the same, for Christians their root can often be found in the same place, and that has to do with how much we trust God with our lives.

The text of 1 Peter 5:6-7 gives us a helpful clue as to how we should try to cope with these two competing pressures to worry: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

The whole letter is built on the foundation of us having a clear trust that God will bring us to the inheritance and salvation that he has promised, and that He has proved He can do this through the resurrection of Jesus. In chapter 5 Peter shows that the Christian attitude towards both anxiety and ambition must be one of secure trust in God and humility before His sovereign power.

If we are humble before God, we will trust Him to "lift us up" in His own timing. Of course this has an eschatological significance, He will bring us to salvation as He has promised, but also He will lift us to whatever earthly position He has in mind for us at just the right time. The flip side of this assurance is that He personally cares for us and so will watch over us in any circumstances of which we're unsure, including finals, moving to a new job, relocating to a new church etc.

There are parameters in scripture which we can follow in making wise and godly decisions, but we can ultimately trust God with the detail if we're active in asking for His help.

The story of Joseph is a great story of assurance. Joseph must have worried as he was sold by his brothers into slavery, and as he was sent to jail for a crime he never committed. But Genesis 39 tells us all the way through that his trust was in God, and in Genesis 45 we read Joseph's certainty that God was in control of the direction of his life even when the future must have seemed horribly dark, and when any aspirations he must have had to follow in his father's footsteps could have appeared dashed on the rocks of circumstance.

The message of final frontier, is the message of scripture, that our God is Lord of all, and Lord of your final year and your next move. Our hope in writing this is that you feel encouraged to persevere in trusting Him and in following him faithfully throughout your life.