I wish I had a really good and honest quote about the perplexities of life becoming clear and simple to older eyes. However, I do not! So instead, you get a somewhat lengthy tell-tale of the goings on in my life, what they meant to me, and how I’ve learned from them. Lucky you! *BIG SMILE NOW! Grab a cup of coffee, sit down with me, and let’s talk about life, love, and religion*
You know that old saying that love will find you when you’re not looking? I think it applies to not only love but other aspects of life as well. Hold your horses buddy! Yes I’m single, but I’m just using the idea here. Since I started college a couple years ago, I have been worried and impatient with myself and the seemingly mundane slow-paced lifestyle I was living. Going to a community college and not certain on my major yet, I found every reason to cry out to God and ask him to just give me the answer so I could run with it! You know what I mean? I was to the “just tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” point. God is so funny how he doesn’t let humans truly run the universe like we wouldn’t do a stand up job of it! Oh wow. Anyway, I’m always praying that God make me more dependent on him. I pray that I can be the kind of Christian with unshakeable faith who can see God in the midst of crises and trust that He will take care of the fallen sparrow. I know I have not reached that point yet, but I think I’ve hit a mile marker. I don’t worry about my major anymore! Through a conversation with my dear friend Elizabeth, I realized that God’s calling for me does not have to be so precise, but rather can be to do what I really feel I would enjoy while “staying under His umbrella” (a phrase only a home-schooled person can really fully appreciate but one that most the populace can now understand thanks to a popular pop song made famous by musician Rihanna. However, the ditty really does not do the phrase justice). Moving on, now that I have realized I can be more free to decide what I want to do with my life down the road, there is not as much pressure and of course, more possibilities! Is it not amazing how God can use a new friend to lighten an old load? *Insert personal note here: Thank you Liz, for sharing your experiences with me. If nothing else, I will have gained that much from our friendship*. I had been struggling so long within myself to pick my major. My parents thought that with my compassion for hurting people I should be a nurse, but I didn’t enjoy science at all! I wanted to do something in law and government, but I didn’t want to fight stupid and pointless battles. So, I’ve combined my softer side for the needy and my logical and argumentative side for the battle, and have come up with a plan to work in the humanitarian field in different embassies around the world. Wonderful!!!!! This gives me the opportunity to travel, affords me the need to learn different languages, and most importantly of all, widens my scope of influence to hopefully reveal all the wonders of the Lord so he can take my downfall, struggle and achievement and shine through them! Yes I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. That is a pretty freakin’ large order. Yet I think God can handle it, and I’m pretty sure with his help, I will be able to as well. God took my time off from college to really quiet my mind and turn me around so I could face Him. He brought me to a place in my life where I could be quiet and still so I could hear him, and THEN he straightened me out and let me walk on. Metaphorically speaking, I have grown to see that I need to slow down sometimes and take a minute to look up and be grateful for the beautiful sunset instead of glaring at the road looking for every chance to speed up and pass another car or side-step an obstacle. And I do! A week ago, I was at work and just took a minute to close my eyes while I was pouring coffee to thank God for the truly amazing parents, siblings and extended family I have. I began to think of how much God has blessed my life to the fullest! I have a family that loves me and will fight for me or with me lol. I have an enjoyable job with 2 great bosses, excellent co-supervisors and hard working baristas who all bring something special to the 3rd place. Anyway, all this came to me really at a moment when I wasn’t even thinking about what has to happen next in my life or what I’m lacking - i.e. a car!. Let me tell you that not even a week later my dad and mom felt led to buy a car for me. My mom said it was God’s perfect timing that brought that car to me, and I whole-heartedly agree. It was like God was saying to me. “See what I can give to you if you’re just patient and grateful?” lol. Well Lord ^, I see now. Now shall we speak of love and religion? Well, they really go hand in hand. Let’s just say that I have never been more infatuated or completely intrigued and in love with my Jesus. I believe that everyone has the ability to have a very special and unique relationship with the Lord. Furthermore, I don’t believe that everyone’s experience and faith can be defined the same way. My Dad’s strength in the Lord is shown through his many achievements in life. He has provided for my family in a way not many men in this country do anymore, and he has done it all while trusting God. My mom’s strength in the Lord is quiet. She has that quiet strength in the Lord like the silent stone that teaches more about life than the talking priest. I am learning to walk in my own relationship with the Lord and not to rely on others to provide their personal intuition or appraisal of their own experiences. I’m going to what I will, for now, call my home Church. I gain so much from the teaching through both the pastor and youth pastor, and I can give so much back through the worship and praise offered there. It took me a while, but I realize now that I am going there to build a relationship with God and not so much the people. I believe I started going to 12 Stone to belong there. I wanted to be strengthened and built up by people. It was in this mindset that I was constantly disheartened in the relationships I thought I had built there. Christ lovers or not, we are all still human and therefore have human tendencies. In other words, even fellow believers can disappoint. It says “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” in I Peter 5:7. It does not say to cast some of my cares upon God and some upon fellow believers. It does not say that I should get my milk from the Lord and honey from the Church. I have to cast EVERYTHING (my cares…that includes everything I care about!) on Him. It makes it easier to see people in a good light when I am not looking for something from them! I know it sounds cold but it really is not. This has freed me up to give to others without expecting in return, to understand and forgive, and to see others the way God see’s us; with the capacity to do good but the knowledge that we all make mistakes. Praise God! It makes my heart flutter and sing because I know that God has answered my prayer for dependence on Him. He has enabled me to work on my faith through the people I meet, places I go and situations that arise in my life. Is He not so kind to me!
Your’s truly,
Heather A. Andrews
p.s. Your coffee is lookin’ a little low. Refill? H.A.A
Labels: career, college, decisions, destiny, faith, growing up, life
posted by smilesmore @ 8:20 PM
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