1. how I see God,I first came to California in July of 2011. The story of how I got here is nothing but God ordering my steps. I had graduated from college in May and spent the next month and a half going from home to a friend's house a few hours away, back home, then back to this friend's house. In the beginning-ish of July, I was planning on spending a week with my best friend. After that week was up, which put me at July 14th, I had no idea where I was going to go. I was in the process of applying to a program to help me deal with some things in my life, and the application process was a waiting game; a very l---o---n---g waiting game.
2. my level of trust in Him, and
3. my awareness of how He truly is working everything out for my good.
The week before I was to head to my best friend's house, I got a Facebook message from a friend from college. It had been two years since we had seen each other; since our college closed. After the closure, she moved back to CA to attend a university there, while I remained in Indiana to follow my major to the university it transferred to. While in college, and in keeping in touch after the transfers, we had joked about me coming to CA to visit. I say joking because financially, it never was going to happen. That's why her Facebook message was a surprise.
She wrote that she and her mom wanted to bring me out to CA sometime that summer to visit for a week or two. I began to explain what the application process I was going through was looking like when her mom started chatting with me. So, I began to explain to her as well that process and the uncertainty of when I would get into the program. She responded by asking if I would be able to get to the airport that next Thursday. The date was to be July 14th. Unbeknownst to her, that was the day I would be leaving my best friend's house and had no idea where I was going. All of a sudden, that question was answered, and I was going to CA.
So, on July 14th, 2011, I flew to CA for a visit that I didn't know how long would last. They left the return flight open so I could return to IN whenever.
Four days after I arrived to CA, on July 18th, I received a phone call that my cousin passed away in a car accident. I was stunned. I had no idea what to do: stay in CA or return to IN for the funeral. After receiving wise counsel from some trusted sources, I chose to remain in CA, difficult as it was. I knew that if I returned to IN, I would not be able to handle my grief the way I needed to. I knew I would try to fix my family, because I'm a fixer. (2 years and some months later and I still want to fix my family.) I knew that if I went back to IN, my grief would literally kill me. So, I stayed, choosing to believe that God had brought me to CA for quite possibly those very reasons.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. I was in CA for three months before I flew back to IN. During that time, as I realized I was in CA for an unknown period of time, I sought out a church to attend. My friend's mom told me of Sierra Bible Church, so that's where I went.
In October, I received a call from Mercy Ministries, the place I was applying to, saying that I was accepted into the program and into the house in St. Louis, MO, (one of four Mercy homes in the U.S.) and needed to be ready to go at any time. So, I flew back to IN on October 15th. I stayed with my best friend for a few days, then stayed with another friend. On November 11th, I received a call from Mercy saying they had a spot for me and asking if I could be in St. Louis on the 15th. Thinking they were meaning December 15th, I said yes. They didn't mean December. They meant November. That was four days away. So many things had to happen in those four days; so many things had to happen in those four days that God had to orchestrate because if not, I wouldn't make it to St. Louis by the 15th.
And He did. He orchestrated beautifully those events that needed to happen. On November 15th, I arrived at Mercy Ministries in St. Louis and began a six month life-changing journey. At the end of those six months, I needed a place to live. Home wasn't a great option, so I sought out other places. All the places in IN that I knew of as possibilities were absolutely not possibilities. All of those doors were shut. My friend and her mom that I visited with in CA kept in contact with me during my time at Mercy. During that searching period, I told her mom of my dilemma. She said, "You know the door is always open. You can always come and live with us." Not wanting to move that far away from family and friends, I kept looking for somewhere in IN. But, no doors opened. None even cracked open a bit. All but one. I had the option to live with my aunt, but it just didn't seem like the obvious choice. Even though I cried and begged and pleaded with God, CA was the obvious choice, even to my aunt.
So, I decided on CA. When a girl is getting ready to graduate from the program, her counselor does her best to set her up with an accountability partner from the church she is going to be attending. After deciding on CA, the next question I was asked was what church I would be attending, if I knew. The only church I knew of was the one I visited that summer, Sierra Bible Church. So, my counselor called and inquired if there was anyone who might be a possible accountability partner for me. No one responded, so she called twice more. Finally, the day before I graduated, a woman called who just so happened to be the Leader of Women's Ministries at the church. She was interested. We talked for a few minutes about what Mercy was and what the accountability would look like. I told her that I would be moving to CA in June, and she told me we wouldn't be able to meet until July. With that, we hung up and the next day, I graduated from Mercy Ministries.
I moved to CA on June 12th, and met this woman the next month. It has been over a year now since we first met and I cannot begin to explain how it has been a God connection. She has been an amazing accountability partner, going above and beyond that 'duty'. I am so grateful to have her in my life.
But, who knows if we would have been connected if I had not been in CA a year prior and had attended that church.
I want to go back to the Facebook chat I had with my friend and her mom as we discussed bringing me to CA. I did not know what was going on on the other side of the computer screen, but later that summer, they told me.
They didn't really have the money to bring me out there. And they knew I didn't have any money because I wasn't working. Knowing that, as they sat in the same room, talking to me on Facebook at the same time, they both agreed that they just had to bring me out. There was no question. They HAD to bring me to CA. They didn't know why, but they knew they had to.
And I didn't know why, either. I questioned that all summer. But, as I was reflecting in the shower this morning, I realized that it was because God had a plan. He had some divine appointments for me then and now that probably never would have happened had I not come that summer in 2011. Even though I didn't understand, nor was I able to foresee the future, God did and He could.
How many divine appointments do I miss because I refuse to trust God and go blind; go where I don't want to or when I don't understand? I know this post was long, but it shows me that God has a plan and if I will just trust Him regardless if I understand or not, it will turn out for the good; for my good.
With God, nothing is coincidence. It's all divinely appointed.
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