Beauty in the Journey

This week has been a whirlwind. I don’t know how to describe it other than, wow God! Let me bring you up to date so you too can experience my wow! This time last year, I was preparing to go on a Passport trip to the Philippines. I was convinced that this was where I was supposed to spend my summer, that is until I got a phone call saying that there wasn’t enough interest in that trip and I would need to pick another one within the next two days. I started praying and reading about the other trips and it came down to Thailand and Swaziland. Thailand’s ministry would be bar ministry and Swaziland was working at an orphanage. I told myself that I wasn’t prepared for that kind of ministry in Thailand. I couldn’t do that! I wasn’t far enough along in my walk with the Lord and it just wasn’t something I was capable of. So I picked Swaziland. Halfway through my Swaziland trip, as God started to break down so many walls and insecurities, He brought Thailand back to mind. I remember Him saying, “You can do that. You could go there and you will go there someday.” Ever since coming home, Thailand hasn’t left my mind. It’s stayed there as this sweet reminder that God keeps His promises. However, I figured that this promise would come to life next year during my Race.

Fast forward to three months ago. I’m standing in worship at the office and I start to get the feeling that I am supposed to apply to lead a Passport (college age) trip this summer. I push it away because, no way God! I’m going on the Race in October, I need to work this summer, I have too much going on and I have no money to lead a trip. Well… God had other plans. I applied a few weeks later and after several interviews and weeks of waiting, I found out on Tuesday that I had been accepted!!! And, to top it all off, I found out yesterday that the trip I am leading goes to…..

 

THAILAND and CAMBODIA!!!!  

Talk about the Lord’s faithfulness!!!!

 

I can’t help but sit and think back over the last year of my life and all that the Lord has done. This time last year, I was preparing to go over seas for the first time, return two months later, and finish college. Now, just a year later, I have spent three months living and learning in incredible community, walked through so much with the Lord, am preparing to lead a trip to the very place I deemed too hard last year, and come October, I will be leaving to go on the Race. Its easy for me to look at parts of the past year and become bogged down in details. Or even just parts of this past month! However, this week, God is showing me just how perfectly He is orchestrating my life. 

As I was flying home for Easter, I looked out the window and saw a perfect blanket of clouds below the plane. It was so smooth and you could see for miles! God started to speak to me about how this is how He sees my life. To Him, it is laid out perfectly and it makes perfect sense. From the ground, I can’t always see this view. I get caught up on whatever road I am currently walking. This week, I believe that the Lord gave me a glimpse of how He has planned the last year of my life; the smooth clouds from above, the beauty in this crazy journey.