Perfect Timing

You hear the phrase “in the right place at the right time” a lot, and usually the circumstances are considered a coincidence or just dumb luck. Well, I don’t see it that way. I see it as divine intervention.

God has not only placed me in the right place at the right time, he has put other people in my life at the right time. A perfect example would be last weekend.  

(Divine intervention is really the only way this connection could have been made.)

My sister is getting married to the youth minister of a church out in west Texas. This youth pastor “happens” to work at the same church as a good friend of mine who is the senior pastor. First Baptist Church of Sonora is in one of the smallest towns I’ve ever been to. Sonora doesn’t even have a Wal-Mart. (Which is a significant unit of measurement in my book) 

Anyway, because of my sister, her fiancé, and Matt (the pastor) I visited Sonora. Matt even asked me to share my testimony and my journey in preparation for England with the church. After seeing the sights of Sonora on Saturday, I attended FBC Sonora with my sister. I spoke to the young adult Sunday school class about these last few months of preparation and how I’ve had to depend on God and his provision. For over a year now, my life verse has been Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I’ve clung to that verse knowing that I hope for God’s provision and having assurance in God, whom I cannot see. The lesson the class was focusing on that morning related to faith, particularly the same passage in the book of Hebrews. (so cool!) 

During the morning service, I worshiped through music with everyone. Before Matt’s sermon, he asked me to speak to the whole congregation. Every time I have to speak in front of a group larger than 10 people I get kind of shaky. I suppose I should practice more, but hindsight is only helpful after the fact. I felt as if I stuttered and fidgeted the whole time, but God made what I said understandable. Many said I did well. After I spoke, Matt mentioned my fund raising and suggested the people helped me out in whatever way they could. And then he preached.

This is beside the point, but I absolutely love to listen to Matt’s preaching. If you have any time, go to their website and listen (www.fbcsonora.net); although I recommend just visiting and listening that way! 

So, after the sermon I stood with my sister and spoke with a couple of the members. And this is really where God showed me His handiwork. One after the other, people would come up to me and shake my hand, slip me some money, and say they will be praying for me as I go serve the Lord. These people who had no real connection to me were willing to give whatever was in their pockets and offer up their prayers. I couldn’t help but cry out of joy afterward and just praise God. God not only provided enough money to pay for my visa, but He provided a prayer force from all the way in west Texas! God put me in the right place, at the right time, and around the right people. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

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Retrospect

I have found myself looking back on how the events of the last few months have unfolded and how they will have a considerable effect on my future. This time last year, I was more concerned about my grade in French than anything else. I have a real problem with short-sightedness. Last winter was when I actually noticed my third year of college was half over and by credit hours I was technically a senior. I was proud to be ahead and I told everyone. Of course this was always received with the question, “are you going to graduate early?” I always answered with a resounding “NO.” I would tell people I wanted to graduate with my friends, but the real reason was that I didn’t want to grow up. I didn’t want to jump off the high-dive and plunge into the real world. I wanted to dip my toes in; maybe I could do an internship or job hunt a few months before graduation in the spring of 2013. 

Like I said in my last post, the idea of doing an internship in England came to me in January. God wanted me to jump off the high dive. So the last few months I have been doing all the necessary paperwork and talking to the people who I needed to talk to in order to make this England dream a reality. So within a matter of weeks I had changed my life plan. I was going to get more classes done so that I would be done by December. I still wanted to walk in May 2013 so I was only willing to be in England for 4 months. One day, our contact asked if we would be willing to stay any longer. After a few weeks of talking through options we landed on 6 months. Gotta love the way God works. 

The events of this past summer are what encouraged me to make this particular post. I have been looking back and noticing how God has built the path I am currently on for my life. I have been thinking about what I am going to do when I get back. All I knew was I would get off the plane from England and walk straight into my unemployed life with loans from college waiting to be paid. 

My mom would get so frustrated with me for stressing out about my job prospects a year from now. She would tell me “you don’t know what God will do in your life between now and then, so stop worrying. Just STOP IT.” I just want to say thank you mom, for the verbal slap awake. I turned to scripture. Acts 1:7, Psalm 27:1, and Jeremiah 29:11 reiterated my mom’s point, just to name a few. Jeremiah 29:11 just happens to be one of the most repeated verses at my university- “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

God will provide. So many people (myself included) think they know what this phrase means. They think “I need this so God should provide it.” This isn’t the whole truth. God knows your inner most need. He knows when you need to learn rather than have. God knew I needed to learn patience. He also knew I needed prospects rather than an actual job waiting for me. (In reality what company will wait for you to work for them 12 months in the future?) So God worked through the people I knew and I was put in contact with a possible internship for this fall. I didn’t think too much into the opportunity only that it would be great experience and something nice to add to my resume. The internship is with a non-profit organization. Interestingly enough, my long-term career goal is to work with a non-profit and live my life as a servant to others. God is great AMEN! I was interviewed last Monday and it went well. I got the internship! Not only do I get to work in a capacity that I have always wanted to, but I’m making contacts that I didn’t have before. My prospects for work a year from now have changed completely. 

There is no way I could have predicted the things that were going to happen to me when I was planning my life in 2011. There is no way I will be able to predict the things that will happen in my life in 2013. But I know God will provide.

 So my main point here is if you stop to look back on the moments that brought you to where you are today, you will have a new perspective on the future waiting around the corner.

An introduction is necessary, don't you think?

Hello everyone!

Here we go. I'm not a writer, so if anyone is reading this and can't handle some grammar inconsistencies from time to time I apologize. Thanks to spell checker, grammar issues should be all that pop up.

My profile explains some of who I am and what purpose I have for writing this blog, but I’d like to elaborate a bit.

I mentioned I am a soon to be college grad. I have spent the last 3 years of my life working toward a college degree; hoping that once I stepped off the stage with my diploma a bright future and lucrative career would be waiting for me. As many can attest to- that isn’t quite how it works; but I hold on to my faith in God and his guidance in my life. In 2011 I took Hebrews 11:1 as my life verse: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

My life leading up to today has required a great deal of faith in God and his plan for my life. I have never been rich (by today’s standards) but I have been blessed to never really be in need. I have never been popular but I have never been lacking in love. 2 Corinthians 12:9 has become another verse that I cling to in times of weakness: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

All of this has led to today. This point in my life where I still have to choose whether to surrender control of my life to God or to go day to day thinking I can do better.  I choose God.

In January 2012 I met up with my friend Glen. We have been friends since the third grade. We have managed to stay close for 13 years… of course going to the same elementary school, middle school, high school, and university certainly helped. Anyway, we met up in January and talked about possibly doing an internship we heard about at school. This internship was an opportunity for students to work with the youth of a church in England. I had wanted to do this internship for a few months by the time we spoke. I found out that Glen had also been considering the same internship for a month before I got a chance to talk to him about it. It still amazes me how God works. God was preparing our hearts before we knew we wanted to do the internship.

And now, after months of paperwork, interviews, waiting, researching, and a little more waiting we are only a few months away from leaving for England. In this time we will be raising money for our stay since the internship is unpaid. In the past I know I would be freaking out because there is so much to do in so little time… but God has blessed me with a sense of calm. He is my rock, and without Him I know I couldn’t do this.

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