One Year Later, Nothing's the Same

My world has been thrown for a loop the past few weeks. Before leaving for Passion on January 1st, I expected to go to Atlanta, come home for a few days, then return to Weatherford. Man did God have different things in store. Tuesday night of Passion Francis Chan came to speak. He didn't unpack a specific scripture or have three main points to what he was trying to say. The whole time he was speaking he was speaking of his own life experiences, how he learned to read the Bible and apply it directly to his life, then how he actually acted upon them. I understood and knew what he was talking about.. until it got to the part of actually acting upon whatever it was that God was leading me to. I continued to pray as Chris Tomlin and the band started to play when Francis was finished. I'm not sure exactly what I was saying, but I couldn't stop talking. Finally the Lord overwhelmed me with, "Be still!" It was then that I fell silent and the Lord spoke. He said, "Go work among the poor, homeless, and trafficked in downtown Oklahoma City." At that moment I knew that would mean leaving SWOSU. I began to weep knowing all the people that would mean leaving. I immediately began to question what I had heard. I thought it was all crazy. Then Francis, without missing a beat, walks back up on stage as the music is still playing and says, "I know God is telling some of you some CRAZY things right now.." That was it. God had just used that as an affirmation and there was no excuse.

Later that night someone said, "Well have you prayed about it?" I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Was it not through prayer that I first received this? Am I going to get a "jk" from God? I learned from this person that I didn't want to be stuck on the instruction from the Lord by constantly seeking affirmation when I could be moving forward to what He has called me to do. I didn't want to waste any time, for I do not have all the time in the world as God does. I desire to be obedient to the Lord in a way that I act upon whatever God says when He says it. I want to hear the voice of God clearly.
Let's put it this way. Say there's a person that you clearly say something to. Then right after you said this word they ask, "Did you really say that?" Then after a few hours or the next day they come back again wondering if you really really said that, so on and so forth. What if this person questioned if you really said something every time you spoke? Personally I would probably get so annoyed that I would probably stop talking to them for awhile.

As I began to see how quickly my life was about to change, I reminded God of what He had said before about seminary and ministry. Of course, God needs no reminding, and He had everything under control. You see, for seminary you need an undergrad, and God was about to provide a way to acquire that. To speed up the next few days here is a quick rundown of what happened.

First, I received an email from UCO saying I could apply, be admitted, and be enrolled by Wed. the 11th. Fast forward to Friday, Jan 6th and we had returned from ATL. I made my way to Edmond but hit traffic and wasn't going to be able to make it to the admissions office in time. I just prayed, "Lord, need your help here." I got ahold of a counselor and asked what all I'd need to get enrolled. To my surprise the ONLY thing they would need would be an official transcript from SWOSU. You see, I have NEVER sent anything into UCO except ACT scores. My jaw dropped, but didn't bother asking the guy how they had everything from a high school transcript to my shot records. I just thanked the Lord and continued on.

I finally got admitted Monday the 9th. At one point I was only enrolled in 7hrs. Again, I prayed that the Lord would take care of it, and before I knew it 2 classes opened up that were previously closed. I was then sitting at 13 hrs. Thank the Lord.

I then found out about Frontline Church in downtown OKC. They do ministry directly with the homeless. I was pretty interested once I found out about that. Later that day I swung by the BCM out of curiosity to see if they might know of anyone who needs a roommate. To my surprise there's a guy who just transferred from OBU who came for more opportunities for ministry and attends Frontline. Long story short me and Kobi met and talked over moving in (which consisted of "So will this work?", "For sure.") Simple enough. And I move in TODAY!! I then informed the Lord I needed a job (I know, silly right?). Kickingbird Golf Course has invited me for an interview Tuesday. Oh, how good our God is!

Every step of the way God has been faithful. Though not knowing what was to come about by leaving SWOSU, God has continued to unpack His plan. I cannot take any credit for anything that has happened. It has been by His strength, His will, His doing.


I say all this as a testimony to our God and I hope that some may find encouragement to follow as God leads, even if it is sudden. Where He leads is always for the best, and it allows us to grow in ways we never could have if we didn't follow. God doesn't always fill us in on the details, yet that's part of the adventure.