Moving to Indianapolis, Part 1: Solo Roadtrip.

After much prayer and discussion with my support coach and Indianapolis city director, Ken, I have decided to move to Indy to finish raising my support. Raising support had become very slow in PA, so Ken and I thought it would be a great idea to try raising support in a new area, where I will also be with my Student Venture team for encouragement and support.

I am actually sitting in my friend Karen's apartment right now, having driven from Pennsylvania on Wednesday. The fact that the move I have been working towards for ten months has actually become a reality hasn't really sunk in yet. Leaving home felt somewhat like another trip for work and to visit friends. Although leaving this face is never easy...

Since before this trip the longest I had driven alone was around 3-4 hours, my parents were very relieved that my friend, Lynzi, who attends Ohio State University graciously allowed me to stay with her Wednesday night, a little over half way through my drive. It definitely made the trip more enjoyable, knowing I wasn't going to be driving 12 hours straight.

Yesterday, I said goodbye to Ohio, or rather, "you're welcome," and was on my way to Indiana!

I arrived at my friend Karen's apartment at around 3:30 yesterday, where she welcomed me with a big hug and a trip to get Froyo to celebrate.

It's surreal that I'm here, because I've been waiting for this for so long. And also because before I can really relish in the fact that I'm officially in Indiana, I have to run 13.1 miles along with thousands of other crazy people tomorrow.

But I am here, and thanks to the Lord made it without any trouble. I have no clue what the Lord has in store for me over the next couple months, but I am very excited to find out His great plans for this new phase of my life. He is good and no matter what happens, I can trust that He will take care of me.

Prep Time

A couple months ago, I wrote about trusting God in times of waiting. As I have looked over the past ten months of raising financial support, I have a new perspective and appreciation for this time of waiting. I realized how much God has used those months to prepare me for my future in Indianapolis working with high school students. 

When we are in periods of waiting, I think one thing is important: diligence. Not necessarily diligence in working to get what we want, but diligence in spending time with the Lord so we can learn all that He wants to bestow on us during this time. If we accept this time and lean on the Lord, He will teach us and grow us so much in times of waiting. 

Francesca Battistelli has a song called “Time In Between,” and the chorus is amazing:

“It’s the time in between

That I fall down to my knees

Waiting on what You’ll bring

And the things that I can’t see

I know my song’s incomplete

Still I’ll sing in the time in between.”

Isn’t it so true that times of waiting bring us to our knees? We have no where else to go, but to our knees. There’s nothing we can do to make this time go any faster, all we can do is trust and seek the Lord. A friend recently shared a quote with me about waiting, “sometimes God is waiting to see if I’m waiting.” Sometimes all God wants is to know that we are waiting on Him, so if we give into the wait, and fall into the Lord’s expectant arms, we will be closer to what we want than if we fight against it.

If you think about it, nothing worthwhile in life comes without a wait. Marriage comes after engagement. Babies come after pregnancy. Healing comes after sickness. Employment comes after schooling. Even most food needs some sort of prep time. 

God has taught me so much over the past ten months about myself, the kind of woman I want to be and desires I have for my future have become clearer. Some have become stronger, some have become less significant. I think this period of waiting and preparation has made me into a very different person than I was just last year, and because of that I am thankful that the Lord has brought me to this time, and in His timing, He will bring me through it. 

Through verses like Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps,” we know that our timing is not always the Lords. Therefore, I have learned that if my period of waiting is not over when I think it should be, God must have more prep time for me. And why would I want to rush ahead when God doesn’t think I’m ready? 
 
After all, no one wants to eat chicken that hasn’t been properly prepared. Only when God has adequately prepared us, should we venture out of the desert and into our own Promised Land.