This past month, I like to call it my stretching month. I feel God has stretched me a ton, and has been teaching me a ton! First, I had great intentions of going out, and doing a ton of fundraising. There was only one day where I sat down and made MY PLAN about fundraising and how it was going to look like. That same day, my car was stolen. which caused me to step out of that plan, and focus on the situation that I was in. Thankfully, Jesus taught me that miracles actually do happen and he is my ultimate provider by returning my car that night. However, that caused me to step out of my original plan, and focus on the damage control that needed to be done. Jesus has his own way of providing funds. The next night, I was so emotionally worn that I just looked up and said: "Jesus, I can't fundraise right now. After this and all the stuff I'm going to have to do because of this, I'm giving you the fundraising job." And I'm glad he took that job! Especially with what came next…
Secondly, about two weeks later, my car was broken into, and some damage was done. Someone decided to roll all the windows down and let it POUR in my car. Once again, that caused me to step out of MY PLAN, and focus on what I needed to do in order to make sure that my car was okay. I just didn't have any luck when it came to my car this past month. Thankfully, nothing was stolen, but my car did turn into a pool that took about 4-5 hours to clean out.
About 2 days later, I got a notice from the bank saying that I tried to pay a pretty big bill. When my car was stolen, my bank info was stolen. The day after it was stolen, I went to my bank and closed all my accounts, and changed all my pins so nothing could happen to my savings. That sent me a huge scare, so I went to the bank and called the company to say that someone tried to pay the bill and to say that it wasn't me. Thankfully, the bank said that trying to overdraw my account wouldn't hurt me because it was fraud.
Then, about a week later, to make a long story short, I got into a huge issue with my work about a scam artist. It was a pretty big deal that could have cost me my job, and I probably would be in jail for being investigated for a crime right now if management didn't take action right away. Thankfully I am not, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, and you probably would have heard about it, and thought that I had a mental break down or something 😉
This past moth, Jesus and I sure had quite an adventure together. I realized that as soon as one thing ended and I decided that I could step back into my plan, another thing would happen which caused me to step out of MY PLAN, and into his plan. His plan was that he wanted his job of fundraising back, and that I was to do what he needed me to do. He taught me that he is the ultimate provider, by providing me my car, a job, and having no big damage happen. However, he also provided me with enough funds for the up coming deadline in June. As soon as I gave him his job back, he took his job and showed me how he is my provider, and that he has everything under control.
I like to call those stressful situations above adventures. To me, an adventure is something that you go on, and learn something. I learned how to forgive someone that I didn't even know and who took my car, and try to take my identity and money. I learned how to put all my trust in Jesus when a situation came up, and when each adventure came to and end (hopefully for a while now) I learned something about myself, and how Jesus gave me strength to endure what needed to be done.
This past year, I have been on an adventure in Washington State with my family. It's been so amazing to be up here and I've been enjoying seeing more of my family and getting to know them more. I've learned so much out here and have absolutely loved it. Don't get me wrong, there have been really hard times where I feel I've been stretched, but I honestly wouldn't trade if for the world.
About a couple months ago, the Lord told me that this adventure's time is coming to an end. As much as I didn't want to admit, I ignored it, and kept on going. However, about two weeks ago, he made it pretty clear the me that I accomplished what he sent me out here to do. He told me it's time to go back home for the summer, and he will let me know where I'm going to live, whether out here or not, after the mission trip when that time comes. I was so mad with him! I thought that He sent me out here so I could actually be a resident, and attend a Washington college, and be closer to my family and the awesome friends I have made. I was totally fine with going home for the summer, but when we decided to move all my stuff back home, I felt like that was him saying I'm not coming back. I can't even express how mad I was at him.
A couple days ago, I went to my normal coffee shop to have coffee with Jesus. I was ready to vent everything to him, and say how unfair it was that I was leaving my life out here. I then reflected on the month I had, and felt him say: "If you could trust me with all what happened this past month, then why can't you trust me with this? I'm saying it's time to go back home for now. You've done/learned what I needed you to do/learn. We have another adventure ahead of us. Let me do my part, and I will let you know where you're going next when that time comes." That night, two of my cousins reminded me that there still are open doors out here. Maybe the Lord will bring me back when we finished the mission trip, but I learned that I need to leave that up to him. All I know is that we are going on another adventure together, and when the time comes, he will let me know where the next one will be, whether in Washington, or anywhere else he plans to lead me. But I did voice my opinion for Washington pretty strongly 😉 just sayin'.
