Wabaday

Wabaday...not just fun to say, also the name of the street I'll be living on in a little over a week. I was looking on Covenant's website for housing opportunities when I came across it. I was actually looking at it for the 2nd or 3rd time to see if there were options I had ruled out that I might need to stop being picky about and start considering. Then I came across this particular ad that hadn't been there the last time I had looked. I called the number listed and that night found myself on Wabaday looking at a 2 bedroom house for a rent that was ridiculously too good to be true. As I talked to the owner of the house it became more and more evident that this was the provision God had been asking me to wait on. For starters, the owner informed me that he and his wife had been praying for the past 2 weeks about what to do with the house since it had been on the market all summer and not selling. Interestingly enough it was exactly 2 weeks ago that my apartment fire occurred leaving me with the dilemma of where to live. The 2nd sign of God's provision is kind of a minor detail but nonetheless fun for me. I had painted my kitchen, was in the process of painting another room and had the color picked out for my livingroom before having to make the decision to not stay. I was a little bummed because I loved the color schemes I had chosen. Then I walk into this house and wouldn't you know it but the kitchen and livingroom where both painted the colors I had chosen and the extra room was painted very close to the same blue I had chosen. So there it is ladies and gentleman. God at His finest doing exactly what He was asking me to trust Him to do...surprise me with His provision.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I wish you could've been in my head today. I'm pretty sure you would've left at the end of the day thinking "schizophrenic". Today was orientation at Covenant Seminary. I had the sense of "I'm really going to do this" mixed with "This is exactly where I'm supposed to be" all at once. It was lovely. I was excited. It wasn't going to last. As we sat through orientation one of the professors pointed out that for the first month and a half we would have the same emotions one had when they went to church camp as a teenager. It's that feeling of elation at getting to study the word, making exciting discoveries about God and self, and getting to spend so much time around other believers who are equally excited to both grow in the faith and be a resource to others as they grow in their faith. He followed this comparison by saying "Then on about September 20th it's going to end." Now, I'm not naive. I had already figured out that the excitement I was feeling was part of the newness of it all and that it was probably going to end at some point. I just didn't expect it to end 4 or 5 hours after he made the comment. I figured I had at least a month, ya know. Be that as it may, I did not. The reason for the low after the high was related to circumstances totally unrelated to school and it wasn't even that big of a deal. Yet it still set the stage for God to remind me that I had a choice to make. He was reminding me of what He spoke last week---that He wanted the chance to surprise me with His provision---and He was calling me back to that decision I had made to trust Him. The bonus round of this challenge is He was calling me to trust that in the midst of my low. So as I finished my run up I told God I'm still all in, He just may have to give me a little more of an idea of what it looks like to trust Him when it comes to this situation with my apartment.

In other news, God did show me a way He has provided that was unexpected. I received a notification from my gas company in Indy saying they had miscalculated how much I was supposed to be paying monthly and they actually owed me $151. What THEY don't know is they probably figured it up exactly right (because the house I lived in was older and not the most stellar in the area of insulation) but God decided to use that venue as a reminder that He has all sorts of ways He can provide for me over the next 3 years. It's up to me to see it for what it is....another words, more than coincidence, more than a mistake that someone else has made (the gas co. in this case), more than an accident.

Alright, God.

Learning to be surprised by God

A while back I mentioned in a blog that I was waiting to hear back from a seminary if I had been accepted to their counseling program. Well, I was and I'm officially in St. Louis awaiting fall semester to start. But don't get the idea that just because classes haven't started that school isn't already in session. Oh no. Classes in the school of life are very much ongoing right now. The current class: faith; the current lesson: letting God surprise me. This lesson was initiated my last week in Indy. I was packing up my house to leave, making arrangements for who would drive down with me, arranging with the school for help on the St. Louis side to unload my van, while also coordinating those final hang out times. I thought I was doing a pretty darn good job being organized balancing these different aspects of preparing to move. And then life happened. A beautiful woman of God who had been graciously walking the journey of cancer was mercifully released from her battle and no doubt swept into the arms of Jesus. Lovely for her, sucky for the rest of us. Her funeral was scheduled for the day I initially intended to leave. I had absolutely no trouble making the decision to stay the extra day to celebrate the glory of God through her life---I don't hold quite that tightly to the plans I've made. However, all of a sudden my brain was in a tailspin about how I was going to pack my moving van while at a funeral, who was going to drive down with me (far fewer people were able to go down on Sunday versus the original Saturday) and questioning if there would be anyone on the other end to help unload (that was especially stressful knowing there were fewer people able to drive down with me). To add to that, my moving van of choice (Uhaul) was not cooperating with the whole "hold the reservation" thing and at one point I was certain I did not have a van to move my things from one state to the next. In the midst of the chaos flowing through my brain and the acid flowing in my stomach God spoke. Somehow through that mess He was able to get a message through to my heart. The message: "Give Me a chance to surprise you with My provision." He was asking me to lay down the stress and the constant running of my mind in order to let Him pull everything together. It would appear I didn't pass this test because now, 2 weeks later, I've been given a retake of the test. Yesterday evening I experienced the joy of an electrical fire in my apartment. Minimal damage but serious enough of an issue that I'm going to have to move. As I packed up my stuff to go to a hotel last night my mind started again with the chaos and my stomach with the acid. My beautifully planned week before starting school next week was going down the toilet. As I scrutinized over any possible solution to my dilemma the Teacher spoke up and helped me cheat a bit..."Give Me a chance to surprise you with My provision." It hit me that the same lesson was in progress, class was very much not dismissed and I had a chance to improve the results from the last time this test was presented to me. I really have no idea how to not plan in order to provide for myself but I guess that's what faith is anyway; choosing to trust the unseen over that which can be seen. As I muddle through this one I'll try to keep you updated on how God works. I know in my heart that it could be quite exciting and fun so I'm determined to learn how to let God do His thing. Should be interesting!