My layover in life

In 2012, on my way to Slovakia, we had a layover in London. We missed our flight because our plane was late getting in, and I thought we would have to sleep in the airport and stay 24 hours. But two of our people flew out pretty shortly after, and the airport paid for the rest of us to stay in a hotel, paid for dinner, and we got to go see London for an entire day! It was the best layover of my life! London was never somewhere I thought I would get to see. I was so excited to get on the upstairs part of the double decker bus, and just be in a foreign city that I wasn't expecting to see.

On top of that, that night at the hotel I was put in a room with a girl named Katie, who I didn't know very well, and that night was when our friendship really started. She woke me up by talking in her sleep in the middle of the night and I didn't know she was sleeping so I responded, which woke her up, and then we ended up talking for a few hours. And our lifelong friendship began. I remember thinking that night that I really wanted to be friends with this girl, and I had missed that realization before.

So when I pray for people in their traveling, I usually pray that they catch their flights at the right time, but that if they don't, that God would make their layover a great one. It has also been such a cool metaphor in my life in that we always want to catch our flight and get to the places we want to go in a timely manner and not hate the way there. But what if on the way there your layover is NOT where you're stuck in an airport for 24 hours, but getting to go sightseeing and making a best friend?

What if this "layover" in between jobs for me is not to be seen as a punishment or a terrible time, but somehow something good will happen? Maybe I won't get a job right away, but maybe God will have a purpose for the in-between time, and later I will say it was the best in-between time I could have had. It doesn't mean I won't still look hard for a job. It doesn't mean I'll be lazy. It doesn't mean I'll just read books for 10 hours a day. But in this time, I want to be attune to what God is doing, what He is teaching me, what He is saying, and where He wants me to go.

I'll probably be blogging / writing a little more during this time, and I hope that somehow it will be encouraging to others, and that it will bring glory to God and to what He is doing. I have heard other people telling their stories of what God has done and is doing in their life, and sometimes it's just amazing to hear, and so I hope I can do the same. My sweet friend Anna tells me all the time to write a book because of the things God has done in my life, and I told her I might some day, but it'll probably be a few years. :-)

My scattered thoughts on quitting my job today: Finally!

Today I put my two weeks notice in for Starbucks after almost 7 years. I'll be living off of a 10 hour a week job at my church, and my savings. I'll be job searching extra hard. And praying even harder.

Of course the fears come in. How long can I be without a job? How long can I slowly go through my savings? How long can I keep paying my student loans? How long can I go without insurance?

Is there even a way to ENJOY being without a job (minus my church job)? Is there any way I can even view this as a journey or an adventure? How do I listen to what the Lord is saying and know where the Lord is guiding me? Is there a way to receive peace from Him in this time?

Someone from my church that I don't even know all that well sent me a message about something else, and then saw that I quit my job and said, "Congratulations! I'm sure that was a big decision. But it's amazing the opportunities that God provides when we're not busy doing the stuff we don't need to be doing." WOW! What a perspective switch! I know that God has wanted me at Starbucks and I have planted lots of seeds there, but maybe there came a time when my season of fruitfulness there was over and I just stayed because I didn't have another job. Who knows.

There are so many rude, annoying, and angry customers that I'm glad I'll never have to see again. There are so many unrealistic, stupid, petty rules I'll never have to follow again.

I'll have to exercise more since I won't be on my feet 8 hours a day. I'll save money in gas from not driving 20 minutes to and from work each day. I'll have to cut back on drinking coffee because I won't be able to afford it, but maybe it'll be good for my body anyways.

Maybe I'll only be off for 2 weeks, and then get a job, and then this time in-between jobs will be shorter than I imagined.

Things I'm Thankful For:
-Friends that are praying for me, going to keep me accountable to job searching, are encouraging, and who make my life so beautiful
-My church
-Church job that I love
-Parents
-I already have books to read so I don't need to buy any more
-God has been answering other prayers in my life and other people's lives and it has been great to see!

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand

It's the end of the wilderness. I can see the other side. So hold on now, I'm going in. I'm wading into the river, praying the Lord holds up the water where I can't even see it, allowing me to pass through. May this all bring Him glory. May the stories that led up to this time point people to Him, and may the fulfillment of His promises show others that He is indeed real.

I have stacks of rocks behind me, of moments He spoke, of moments He encouraged me, and I glance at them often to remember what amazing things He did to lead up to this. But of course I battle the doubts, because it's all in what I have heard Him say and nothing in the circumstances that I can see. Perhaps if even one small thing were reflecting what I've heard...but no, I haven't seen it yet. I have only heard. I can only trust. I trust the One who has spoken, and I believe the Lord will do what He says.

The spiritual attacks have been an onslaught over the past few months. Things have stepped up a notch. As if satan thinks any attack would thwart God's plan. Ha! No. Because I know all of this, all of what He has promised, is not of MY doing, but of His. Sure, He has asked me to do specific things, and I have been obedient to the best of my human abilities. But it is not all dependent on me. So I fight the attacks. I pray the big things. I push and push and push and push. I march around the walls of Jericho over and over, waiting for the day when it crumbles down in an instant.

As I pondered this the other day, the imagery of standing at the brink of the Promised Land, of the fulfillment of what God has promised, I was scrolling through Facebook and Crowder posted a line on his facebook that said, "I'm longing for the Promise Land. Are you with me?" with a link to a video of him singing a song that I had never heard before, from a few years ago. Some of the lyrics are, "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, I'm longing for the promised land... I believe something is coming, there's no way I can move unless You choose to do something." Yes! What great timing to read that and hear that song for the first time, as I had just been thinking about that.