stet
–verb (used without object)
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1.
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let it stand (used imperatively as a direction on a printer’s proof, manuscript, or the like, to retain material previously cancelled)
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In a conversation about tattoos with my friend Laura yesterday, I told her I should get one that says, “stet.” She told me, “but you’re not going to be in journalism anymore!” I responded with, “yeah, but it’ll mean it wasn’t a mistake!” Then there was that huge lightbulb moment…it wasn’t a mistake.
There have been many times that I have wished I could have a do-over, to cancel out a decision I have previously made. One that has briefly crossed my mind over the last couple of weeks is “I shouldn’t have told work I was leaving.” But the decision I made was not only the right and honest one, but one God led me to do. It was never an option in my mind to NOT tell them. I will never know whether that played into the decision the bosses made to let me go. For all I know it would have happened even if I wasn’t going on The Race. The point is, it wasn’t a mistake.
We all have troubles in our lives that have brought us down, have broken our hearts, have caused us grief, have just been HARD, but they are what make us who we are today.
I think of the hardest thing that I’ve been through and realize that had it gone my way, The World Race wouldn’t even be on my radar. If it were up to Marissa Villa in 2007, she’d be happily married for almost a year. But she wouldn’t be close to Helen Montoya Henrichs. She wouldn’t know Allison Boerger. She never would have had Annabel Hernandez pray over her one Sunday morning. She never would have visited Pat Brockman’s home for lunch one day with her friend Diana Lujan, whose friendship is stronger than it ever was in 5th grade. She wouldn’t have developed a relationship with Joe and Tessa Cabrera. She never would have gone to lunch with Lupe Villarreal and thought, “wow, I think she might GET me and what I’m going through.” She would have missed out on some really fun times with Rose Paez. She never would have attended small group at Minnie and Daniel Mendez’s home. She never would have run into Jason Thomas at a Barnes and Noble while Christmas shopping and talked about his mission work…the same week she had her World Race interview. And she would have never known Corie Fox, Patrick Fariss and David Daniels, some of her greatest friends in college, thought she was made for this kind of ministry.
Now, all of these people make up Marissa Villa in 2009’s lifeline and support since the World Race preparations began–my prayer team.
So as I look back and try to not freak out about the future, I’ll keep this in mind: It wasn’t a mistake. So I’m going to let it stand.
