Hey hello what’s up! It’s been a minute since I wrote on here; my bad. BUT, I have big news on my next season!!
As I learned more about myself and the Lord on my Gap Year journey, the more I fell in love with the Lord, I continued to desire to grow. With that desire in me, the Lord graciously led me to what I will be doing in the fall. Which is, more growing!!
This fall, I will be a part of a program called Center for Global Action (CGA).
“What is it? What do you do? Where is it? How long is it?”
What is it/What will you do?
CGA is a leadership and discipleship school created by Adventures in Missions; the slogan for the program is “Know yourself, Lead Yourself, Lead others.” I will be taking classes to help further my knowledge of the Lord, myself, and how to continue to live missionally wherever the Lord brings me next!! Think of it as another launching pad for life 🙂 I will have the joy to live in community again, and get a part time job in….
Where?
GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA! Yep. Goin south!
The program is based out of Gainesville, GA where the Adventures in Missions offices are; and that’s where I will be living and working throughout my time there!
How long is it?
CGA is a five month commitment; so I will be away from good ole California another semester. To be specific, I’ll be there from early August to mid/late December!
How I got here:
I wanted to share the story on how the Lord led me to CGA, it’s pretty cool actually. So in the middle of my race, when I was in Guatemala, I started to ask the Lord about the season for the coming fall. The information for CGA and alumni team leading had been released, and I also had been accepted to universities back at home so I wanted to see what the Lord had planned for me to kinda get a head start. Also if I’m being honest, so many dear friends on my squad knew what they were doing in the fall (and I was soooo excited for them!) and I wanted to know what the Lord has in store for me too. I started bringing things up to the Lord. “Alumni Team leading? School? CGA? BSSM (another school I was looking at)?” Almost every time I would talk to Abba, all I wanted to hear was an answer about the fall. Pretty clearly He told me “Stop thinking and planning for the Fall. You’re getting consumed by it. I will tell you eventually, just wait.” Well, shoot. Waiting. I can’t say I’ve been great at that before, but what a beautiful invitation to learn!
So, I waited. I stopped asking God about it and just stayed present in the season I was in. I am pretty stubborn though, and so every couple weeks I would ask God, “so…any uh..updates or you wanna let me in on your plans yet?” And every time He would reply with, “Wait. I will tell you eventually. Be patient.” Gah. Okay okay.
Well one morning when I was walking with God around the base, as I tended to do in the early hours, the thought of CGA popped into my brain. I don’t remember what I was thinking about beforehand, but I know it wasn’t that. That’s one of the ways that helps me discern the Lord’s voice; if it lines up with His character, with scripture, and it’s completely random and not of my train of thought. For some reason though, I was SUPER turned off of the idea. I was like, “nuh uh. I don’t want to go to Georgia. I don’t want to do that; CGA is not for me.” However I felt conflicted: the Lord told me to stop thinking about it, so why would He bring up CGA? Looking back I see He was just planting a seed; a seed that wouldn’t sprout until months later.
Weeks pass, and I’m in Ecuador. The last time I asked God about the fall was the first week in Ecuador, and I got the same grace-filled response, “Wait.” The whirlwind of COVID-19 happens and I’m back home. Fast forward a couple weeks since being back in Cali, and I was talking to one of my best friends from the race. She asked me, “So, do you know what you’re doing for the fall?” I said, “No clue. I haven’t asked God about it in a while. Why..? Do you know something?” She replied, “….Maybe..but I can’t tell you.” Well, of course. Jesus has a funny sense of humor in letting in other people on His plans for me except, ya know, me.
She encouraged me to start bringing it up to God again, but honestly, I was apprehensive. I was doubting I would get an answer. I doubted that He would tell me something other than “Wait. Be patient. I will tell you eventually.” Which, how wild is it that we can be put off by hearing the same thing from God, even get annoyed by it, when LITERALLY the KING OF THE UNIVERSE is speaking to us?! Like, gosh. What a conviction that we should be praising Him and being grateful we get to even hear and converse with Him!! Doesn’t matter what He is saying, even if it is the same thing for weeks, months, even years; GOD IS SPEAKING TO US!!
Anyway.
I was on another phone call with a friend from my race. Out of the blue she says “Have you thought about CGA?” “Uhhh…what? Not really…why??” “I don’t know. I just feel like you should look into it.” Well, okay I guess. Remember what I said before that I was super against the idea of CGA for whatever reason? I found that when I thought about it, I actually wasn’t so put off by it anymore. (Spoiler, God softens hearts).
About a week later, I was talking to a different friend from my race. Again, in the middle of conversation not even close to the topic of the fall or anything, she says something along the lines of, “You should go to CGA.” At this point I’m a little freaked out. Like, why are all these people telling me about this? I know God works like that but, is this for real right now?
Finally, the next day I was texting back and forth with another different friend from my squad. She asked me what I was doing for the fall. I told her I had a little bit of an idea, but I hadn’t asked God about it so I didn’t want to say anything. She said, “Can I take a guess? The Lord told me what you would be doing at the end of Guatemala.” At this point I was pretty shook. I told her to go for it. I put my phone down and walked out of the room to do something. I thought to myself, “Okay God. If she says what I think she is going to say, I am going to sit down immediately and we are going to have a talk.” I come back to a message from her that says,
“CGA.” (She also said a few other things that had been affirmed for me in the past as well)
Welp. I’m blown away to say the least. I put my phone down, grab my journal, and I start to talk to God. A few times in my walk I have gotten an incredibly clear word from Him, this was one of those times. I said, “God, am I meant to go to CGA?” Clear as day He replied,
“Yes. Go.”
Like, DANG. This is my testimony of waiting. Only AFTER I had laid down my plans for the future. Only AFTER I had accepted He was the only thing that could satisfy me, that no meticulous plans or control could ever do that, only then did He reveal His great path for me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Kingdom of God is upside down. After we lay it down, we are gifted. After we die to ourselves, that’s when we live. When we are thrown into the midst of trouble, we have joy; all because of our Savior Jesus Christ.
So that’s my story, that’s my testimony. (P.S. shoutout to Sumer, Olivia, Kori, and Morgan who all spoke into this season for me by listening to the Lord’s voice; love y’all). This fall I will be attending a 5 month discipleship and leadership school to follow the call of the Lord on my life, and I cannot wait. Again, I ask for your support and help in this journey.
CGA is $4,950 (I know my blog site says differently, but due to COVID-19 and leaving the field early, they have been able to lower the cost. Thanks God!) I know asking for money during this time is a touchy subject, and I’m working on getting a job this summer to invest what I can into this as well. But I ask in faith, knowing the Lord will provide for both me and you. Please consider supporting me on this new journey of even deeper growth, intimacy, community and life experience. I will be sending out support letters and emails, so if you would like one do not hesitate to respond in the comments, email me, message me on Facebook or text me! If you tap on the three lines in the corner you will find a “contact” button where you can send me an email directly! I also am so happy to give you my phone number if you would like to discuss things over the phone!
I do want to say an incredibly massive THANK. YOU. For all of the AMAZING support throughout my Gap year. I was able to be fully funded and work on the field for all the time I had. Thank you thank you thank you. I am so honored and humbled to be supported by people, whether financially, through prayer, or reading my blogs, I can’t say thank you enough.
Thank you for following my journey so far, I’m so excited to see where this next season leads!
Love,
Jenay
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3 (<- amen to that!!)
Wouldn’t be a blog without some worship 😉
Beautiful Surrender by Melissa Helser
Promises by Maverick City Music
Man of Your Word by Maverick City Music
(If you haven’t heard Mav City’s Volume 3 album, YOU SHOULD)
