WOW.
What a week it has been.
School has started again but for me it's for the last time. In a few short weeks when my semester finishes I will be graduating with my Bachelor's Degree in Christian Ministries from Biola University. I am so excited! Lots of the time I can't even believe it is almost over. Coming back to school this year has been veiled in a weird light because it has been cast with the hazyness of endings. Saying goodbye has never been easy for me but I find it even harder this year to allow myself to say hello to some of the things I am blessed with this semester. Like friends, family and community. To protect myself I have fought to avoid saying hello because then the goodbye (in my mind) would be easier. But that is not true. I feel that now more than ever I am needing to allow myself to live in the PRESENT so that when the new day comes I learn to live fully in that moment, everyday.
Goodbyes will come eventually, but right now I get to live in the moment of today. Praise God.
Another thing that happened this week was the realization that I have a little over 2 weeks to reach my first deadline of $3,500. That's a pretty penny and because of that I have been fearful all week long that the funds won't come in. But it's funny because God keeps telling me, "my will be done, Drianna." And I keep brushing that off and pushing it away and saying, no God your will isn't going to provide this money or be strong enough and he keeps reminding me to, "be still," and "know that I am God."
So FINALLY I stopped and stilled myself before the Lord. Then I went online and found out that my first donation had come in. It wasn't $3,000 but it was a way that God said to me, "see, I am in control. Now stop worrying and trust me." So that is what I am trying to do.
But along with this realization I also found out that I need most of my gear before training camp in October. So today I went to REI with my dad and my friend Paige and looked at a bunch of different gear, I was worried I would be overwhelmed but honestly it was really fun!
And a random blessing of surprise while I was there was this woman that I ran into. As I was walking around with only 20 lbs of weighted pillows in my backpack to test it out I stopped and talked to a lady by the name of Stacey. She had started a conversation with me asking me about what my trip was going to be and as I was describing it to her I saw her face light up. She immediately asked for more details of what sort of mission work I would be doing and asked how much my trip was and even what countries I would be going to. As I told her about it she stood up and came to me asking if she could hug me because she was so excited for what I was going to do! She found out that I was going to Romania and asked if I might be working with any sex trafficing victims and I told her it was a huge possibility and she immediately asked for another hug. For those of you that know me, physical touch is my number one love language, and as she hugged me in the weirdest way it felt that God was hugging me through her. It was such an encouragement and her eagerness and heart for God's will to be done was contageous. I don't think that I could have asked for more of a blessing than a random lady taking interest in what God was doing in my life and giving me a hug because of it.
I am so thankful for her excitement and even the boldness I feel that she poured into me. If everyone I tell about my trip acted this way, I think I would have no fear at all.
So thank you, Stacey, for your encouragement today! God bless.
