Thirty and Counting

WOW, is it really here…am I really 30 now?!?! I have been counting down to this day for 2 years… seriously!  I know, I know, most people are sad and depressed when they get older but I am super excited and can’t believe this day is finally here!!!

So let me explain a little why I am saying this…

As we get older we all have this thought, right: “what am I going to be when I grow up?” I mean, I know I did, and from the time I went to college in 2000 I have been wondering this same thing; “what do I want to do with my life?” When I was in school I can’t tell you how many times I changed my major. It went from business administration to accounting, marketing, then international business and probably a few more, I had no clue what I wanted to do. After a few years of classes I decided to take a break from school. Okay, well technically I was asked to take a break. I got suspended. But I willingly did this because in my mind “I didn’t like school anyway” So I wasn’t in school and still had no idea what I was going to do with my life.  I worked 2 jobs,  lived in a college town and you guessed it, partied a LOT! I had no focus or direction and just lived day by day with what made me “happy”...partying, drinking, drugs, working, hanging out with friends, and partying a lot… Well, after about 2 years of this I moved back to Jacksonville thinking that I was going to straighten things out. I took a few classes at the local community college, knowing that school “wasn’t for me” I was going to give it another try. In the midst of all this, I was still was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  With no true drive or focus I quickly got back into the party scene and school was not an option any more, or I should say it wasn’t my priority… Never in all this time did I stop to think “it’s not what I want, but what does God have planned for me?!”  I kept on doin’ my thing, partying, working some and partying some more…and in September 2007 my life was “flipped upside down”! 

I was at a bar in Jax beach, having a “good ole’ time”.  I got in my car, as I usually did after a night of drinking, and began to drive home. It wasn’t but about 5 minutes later and I saw blue lights flashing in my mirror. Yep, you guessed it, I was being pulled over. So I get off my phone (of course I was on my phone), the officer walks up to my car and politely asks me to get out so he can take me to a safer place...he pulled me over on a bridge, smart right?! lol and I hesitated for about 5 seconds. Then completely wasted, I remember asking the officer “can I make a phone call” he politely said no (and probably laughed) took me to his car and we went to a parking lot where he began to have me do the field sobriety test. To my surprise I failed it, was read my rights…handcuffed and taken downtown. I could not stop thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening to me”, I am a good kid, I’ve never been in trouble before, why me, what are my parent’s going to do?!? Never did I once think, in my drunken state of mind, that God had a plan in all this madness. I was in jail for about 24 hours. When I got out it was a Saturday night, I got home and pretty much slept all day Sunday.  When I woke up late in the afternoon I remember thinking I really need to get back to church, crazy first thought hua?!? Well that’s exactly what I did. I found out that Celebration had an evening service and I was there. Seeing that I could only drive to church, work, the store and school (and we know that’s out of the question, lol) Going to church was pretty much all I could do. I was in the annex at Celebration, and at the end of the service I remember hearing “God has a plan for each and every one of us. When we surrender everything to Him, giving it ALL up he will begin a work in us”. At that very moment that is exactly what I did, I gave it ALL to God!

Now fast forward about a year… With a lot of preparation, prayers, and a huge leap of faith I went on my first mission trip to Costa Rica in October 2010. I had no idea that this trip was going to change my life forever. I knew God was going to do amazing things, but did not for one minute think that He was going to tell me what I would be doing with my life, His plan for my life…the very thing I had been trying to figure out for the past 29 years. It wasn't till' this trip that I fully realized, that at that very moment that I surrendered my life to God and made Him the LORD of everything I am, that He began preparing me for the calling He has for my life.  He told me that I am going to be sent, He is calling me to be a full time missionary for His Kingdom. And that’s just what He told me on that balcony in Costa Rica. And shortly after, when God gave me these verses in the middle of Awakening, I new it was reality:

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3

Ummmm, yeah I was blown away! I have realized over the last few years that it’s when we put our all into God, surrendering everything to Him, He will begin to reveal things to us and answer prayers that we never thought would get answered. I had been wondering for 29 years, trying to figure it out on my own, what I was going to do with my life. The very minute that I let God take control He began to reveal to me what HE had planned for me.  It’s no longer what I want but what does GOD want!!! I am SOOO happy to say that I will be returning to Costa Rica in just a few short months to continue serving and being the hands and feet of Christ!!!

Dear Heavenly Father,

THANK YOU for all that you have done in my life. Lord thank you for the amazing, loving family that you have given me. For breaking me down, so that I could rebuild my foundation on solid ground. Lord thank you for breaking the chains of addiction in my life so that I can fully see the potential that I can be through You.  Lord I ask that you continue to use me, stretching me daily to glorify You in all that I say and do. Prepare me Lord, to be your hands and feet in Costa Rica. I love you with ALL I am!!!!  In your Son’s PRECIOUS Name, AMEN!!!