It’s officially been 1 year since I’ve been home in America (and a few months since I blogged, sorry!). It’s been one FULL year of adjustment, re-entry, family, cancer, crafting, Guatemala, going back to Seminary, moving, high school reunions, camping, holidays, and more (below are a few pics another blog with more soon…)
(My mom, me, cousin, and aunt at family picnic)
(Dad and I at Dietrich Family Christmas – yes in July!)
(10 Year High School Reunion)
God has been incredibly present and faithful through it all! And with this promise He is no different.
What promise? The promise of a free car.
Before I came home last January he whispered, “Just ask. I know what you are thinking, and needing, just ask and I will give it to you.”
Well….I don’t have a car, nor the funds, and you’ve taught me you are a BIG God and that I’m a woman who is/needs to step out and live in BIG faith (notice all my disclaimers…just ask!) So….will you provide me with a car of my own for free?
“What kind love?"
Really? A blue Toyota Camry please.
(I know Toyota is long-lasting, would love a blue car, and a camry looks cute. Yes I'm a girl I thought cute).
So….I hunkered down and waited in expectancy. I had never asked for something this expensive or big. It logically seems crazy, but God is not logical.
Honestly, I expected it within a few weeks or months, but it didn’t come!
After 1 month, 2 months, 5 months, 7 months….nothing!
He was teaching me patience. He was drawing me deeper into Him. And He increased the journey by telling me to move to Kalamazoo in September without a job or a car promising to provide all that I needed. And so….in faith, I moved.
Without a job and without a car. I moved.
I was in foriegn territory.
I again expected a car like the day I arrived. (Can you say spoiled brat?)
What He had waiting was a car just not what I expected. One of my roommates let me use her car whenever I needed. She along with others let me use their car TWICE a week to drive to Grand Rapids to school (FYI that’s 1 hour away so not just around the corner). One of my friends drove me up to Grand Rapids for class a few times just so I would make it – and YES I’m blessed with some great people, people I didn’t know, people I had just met when I moved here. But they helped me get to school and to work at a café. God made sure I always had a way to get where I needed to be. And he taught me how to be still and not always be on the go.
8 months….9 months….10 months…..11…..
I was still waiting….
Still no car.
Where is the promise? Are you really going to provide this or am I just a crazy girl who is believing crazy thoughts?
Many people suggested I go take out a loan and just buy a car, I’m 29 for crying outloud! And trust me, I wanted to do that. In fact I DID go and started the process of a loan, looked at some cars and then God stopped me dead in my tracks 2 days later. I visited a church and the message that day – "trust God for His promises and believe when your circumstances say it is impossible. WAIT, do not make it happen on your own but to WAIT on the Lord." Welp…after that I cancelled the loan process, He was making Himself clear.
And so….1 year later I find myself without a car of my own.
And I find myself in the middle of the blessing. I find myself in the middle of community. I find myself being loved well and with every need met. This season has been strategic and purposeful. It was planned by the Lord. It has been a challenging and great journey of not being able to provide for myself but rather a season of trusting fully on the Lord. A time of asking and receiving from others. A time of seeing the Lord set up and arrange schedules so that I would be provided for. I have been in a position that is foreign to me. But MAN have I learned ALOT! And I wouldn't give up any of it – the good or bad. And the funny thing is even though I see waiting, He sees movement, He sees progression. He has never stalled out in the process and I haven't stayed in the same place. Rather I've grown through the process, learned alot about His character and His love.
And in the last 2 weeks I've felt impatient or an itch, a shift in seasons. And so I decided I would fast and ask God for movement in His provision of a car. And OH MAN, it has looked nothing like expected, but He has shown movement and has been clear on two things….
It is coming, trust me my Beloved, it is coming….
Wait….
WAIT…..
(And so I wait to post more until tomorrow night on my new blog – http://footstepsofadisciple.wordpress.com. I will be moving over to this new site. I will have it up and running tomorrow. Please subscribe if you want to continue to follow this crazy lady :)).
