ello, fellow hungry people! I know I’ve been a little bit absent from this page, but it’s only because I’ve been focusing my attention on developing the food-aspect of my blog – which is super exciting!
Anyway, a lot has been going on in my life in the past month or so. And what’s really super cool is that everything that’s happened in the past month or so has transformed my interpretation of what God has been teaching me for the past six months or so. Let me explain.
To break down the major events I’m talking about, I’ll number them off in chronological order.
1. High school graduation (woooo!)
2. Break-up (not so “woooo!”, but hey, God has a plan)
3. Blog-launch (“wooooo!” times ten billion)
4. Starting college
5. Dean’s List
6. Homesickness, loneliness, a little confusion about what God’s plan is
7. Getting here – in the spiritual/emotional place I am right now
So, what’s the significance of each? Well, for a while, like, up until about four days ago, I explained my understanding of all this as “God always has an alternate plan. He never takes anything away/does anything without a purpose.” But, I think – actually, I know – I misunderstood.
Let’s rewind to last Tuesday night, as I sat in church with my friends and hundreds of other really rad (yes, I just said “rad”) Christ-following Cal Poly students. An extremely perky, adorable, hilarious young woman spoke about community - how everyone had their first experience at Cru and some were much better than others. Some people are 4th-years and have a boatload of friends and some people are 1st and 2nd-years still searching for the right Bible Study group. I reminisced on my first night at Cru - the middle of the first quarter, amidst Women’s and Gender Studies stress, a little loneliness, and right when the smoke from the break-up-bomb was clearing. The worship band was singing songs I hadn’t really heard, but somehow I knew the words. I closed my eyes and I sang and I started to cry because I knew God heard me and was using Cru to save me.
From that first night at Cru until very recently, I believed God always replaces things – which isn’t, like, totally false. I thought that He would always give me a new chance to ace a test, a new job opportunity, a new friendship, etc., because that’s how things always turned out.
But last Tuesday I realized that I had been wrong. God wasn’t necessarily taking things/people/activities away and showing me alternatives, but rather, in all the confusion/loneliness/sadness/happiness/whatever it was, He was pointing me back to Him. When something went wrong or I was upset or sad or angry or whatever, I turned to God, and saw that He was giving me something else.
But I didn’t really turn to God and just keep my eyes on Him. Now, I understand that the most important alternative plan God had in mind through every single trial and challenge was for me to run to Him and to stay there.
So, I stood worshipping in Cru that night, and couldn’t thank God enough for the life He’s blessed me with – my family, my friends, my blog, Cal Poly, and most importantly, the opportunity to freely follow Christ every single day.
I’m not here to brag, or to tell you that your life will suck if you aren’t Christian. I’m simply explaining how awesome God is and how He has worked in my life because I choose to follow Him. So, yeah, I guess I am saying that life is, like, 245,742,923,485 times better when God is the focus of it all.
When your best friend picks you up from a long day at work and takes you to see the sunset, go. And thank her for the gas mileage, and thank God for her.
If God has been doing something super cool with you, too, I’d absolutely love to hear about it! Or, if you have any questions, or need someone to listen, or someone to talk to, I’m here for that, too.
Email, comment, or whatever – just talk to me!