What got me here?
What got me here to where I am now? This is a question that has been running through my head for many months now. The next question being how do I explain it to others. I guess the best place to start is the beginning…
In January of 2015 I had been living in Orlando, Florida and struggling more than I can ever remember. Especially when it came to my faith. My life has plunged into a place where I was existing, but not living. I had no church that I attended regularly and for the last almost year I had been there I had very little real connection to anyone. I struggled to motivate myself to keep up the few I did have. This all being said, I finally got to the point I was done and was praying for a way out and a way home… He answered in the most incredible way. My family, my parents and little brother, came to visit and within 10 days we had sold the house I had been living in, donated everything except for what could fit in my ford focus and I was headed back to Colorado with them. The puzzle pieces all lined up in such a way that left none of us in doubt of who put them all in place. This passage has given me strength though everything. It has been a constant reminder that He has plans for me and knows my heart.
Jeremiah 29: 11-14 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Coming home has been the most restorative experience I have ever had. It gave me the chance to return to a place in my walk with Him that has given me back my sense of living. I have been blessed to be surrounded by many of the most incredible people I have ever known and they have walked by my side through everything. On March 15 I made the personal decision to publicly declare my faith and was baptized. Having been baptized as an infant I felt it was time for me show that it was not only a decision by my parents, but now it was mine. The months following continued to be incredible and some of the happiest that I can remember in the last many years. I dealt with success and with failure, but no matter what happened I was still in the right place and I was still continuing to grow stronger in my relationship with him.
I have now been home in Colorado for almost a year. I have been singing with my church choir who are truly my second family having grown up with them from the time I was 14 and still now some almost 14 years later. I have been blessed to be able to spend time with my amazing strong Christian family. I was able to find work at a small toy store owned by a Christian family. All of this in addition to connecting or reconnecting to some of the best friends I have ever had. This has all been amazing and wonderful and I am forever grateful for the time I have spent getting back to what I have referred to as my happy place. So now here I am? This is how I got here. Now, what’s next?
