My lack of posts lately has been due to a lack of words
to accurately describe and depict the glory that is God’s.
He has been moving and shaking
so much in every aspect of my life and somehow tying each piece together in
such a way that it is undeniable His hands knit such a work of art.
In six days I celebrate my
anniversary of moving to Memphis seven years ago. When I left Stockton I was young,
wide-eyed, and a damaged hopeful romantic.
It was three years ago that He
would come into my life in an undeniable way through horrific circumstance and it
was to Him I clung, giving my heart.
One year and nine months ago I
began my One Year Challenge, in which I chose to endeavor for a year strictly
in an individual relationship with God, pursuing Him alone and subsequently His
will for my life.
Of my many ventures during
that year, one was the group I called Something in Between, a prayer group that
challenged women to share how God was working in their lives and connecting them
to other sisters in the faith.
In that group, one of my best
friends now and deep sister in Christ, was Kimberly. Though we attended
the same church and have similar friend circles, we had never met before.
My music wasn’t working and to my rescue Kimberly flew with her iPhone,
immediately helping me, bearing my burden, and lightening my load.
Needless to say I have loved her ever since.
It was months later that she
would present to me an opportunity for an opportunity at a non-profit
organization. Speaking into my life, encouraging me, and lifting me up, she
walked through the interview process with me, having faith in me when I didn’t
have faith in myself. It was because of her investment in me and love for
me and her innate ability to speak God’s truth when I couldn’t hear God over my pitiful blubbering, that I
left Regions in April (two days from being exactly four years) and was warmly
welcomed onto the fundraising staff for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
It is also because of her that
I met Katie, who works in our same department. Out of nowhere, mid-May,
Katie passed me in the hall and told me God had told her to introduce me to the
brother of her boyfriend (who I am happy to add is now her fiancé). I
remember the anxiety that followed and it was the anxiety itself that forced me
to leave what could or would happen in God’s hands.
A month later—and seven months
after the end of my One Year Challenge—Trace asked me to a movie. Less
than a month after that he asked me to be his girlfriend.
The most recent development
comes parallel with my new position.
After five years of not being able to find a roommate, I am packing up
my life and moving into the Cooper Young area with a Danielle, fellow OYC’er—God having provided someone who loves dogs (hallelujah!) and desires to and is pursuing the Lord.
This is the same girl who two years ago introduced me to Andy Stanley
and I would inevitably join her in the OYC.
Danielle goes to Fellowship Downtown where she heard about the opportunity and asked me to
join her at a Young Life open house, which I do believe I will pursue. This will be an answer to a prayer that I
have been praying for some two years now, if not more.
I write all of this to give the glory to God for
orchestrating such an amazing life. How He maneuvered me from city to
city, nonbeliever to believer, and through everything that has come along with
it—I just stand in awe, hands raised high, acknowledging the One Whose power is
unmatchable, Whose will is unimaginable, and Whose paths are
unpredictable. And thank God they are, for even in my greatest dreams
would I not be able to recreate a life so challenging, tragic, redeemingly
beautiful, and beautifully redeeming.
It’s easier to trust God in retrospect, gauging where He
has led you. Seeing the flow chart of
your life. But the dot-to-dots of the
then should segue into both a present and a future where we stand having
trusted Him when our not-yet days become our back-then days.
If you made a flow chart of God's will in your life, what would yours look like?
