I sat on my bed. Praying. Seeking God. It was my twenty-third birthday and my desire to know God was deeper than on any previous birthday. I told God I wanted my twenty-third year to be an adventure with Him. Throughout the spring, I had little adventures, nothing major, and I pretty much forgot what I told God. I forgot until late summer when I actually slowed down and reflected back on the previous months.
The end of May through June were spent leading STEP Advanced, a four week summer program for young ladies with an emphasizes on leadership and ministry. That in and of itself was an adventure, as I had to completely rely on God for strength and everything I needed. As we got to the end of the third week, I realized that my plans had fallen through and I had no where to go when the program ended and almost no money to go anywhere on, plus the plans for the fourth week of STEP Advanced had fallen through. I started freaking out because I like things planned out. God calmly reminded me, that He was in control and I needed to trust Him. So I did. And I did. And I did. Everyday and often multiple times a day God would remind me to trust Him when I started stressing and I would give it back to God.
Saturday of the third week, a few of the girls were complaining because they did not know how they were getting home. To give them a positive view on matters, I cheerfully commented, “At least you know you are going home. I do not know where I am going when I leave here.” Another leader, who was in the group, commented that I could come home with her. I said that would be fun and left it at that. Later that day she came up to me and said she was in earnest, she would buy a ticket for me to go home with her to Upstate New York. A little over a week later, I found myself on a train to New York with a ride to Indianapolis after that.
I spent a wonderful week with her family, playing with her younger sisters and fellowshipping with her. God was at work in that visit and I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I also know that when I got in the van to go to Indianapolis it was God’s time for me to leave. My friend’s sister was going with another family from their church to the Whatever It Takes Singles Conference in Indianapolis. I really wanted to go to that conference. There was an extra seat in the van, so I caught a ride with them to Indianapolis. The conference was amazing! I learned what God’s grace was in a way I had never know it before. That is another story.
One of my STEP Advanced girls from that summer also came to the conference with her brother. She asked me to come visit her after the conference, which I was perfectly happy to do. Partly because I wanted the time with her and partly because I could not get a flight from Indianapolis to Texas for a reasonable price. I spent two and a half wonderful weeks with her family and took a trip to Connecticut with them. I am not sure what all God was doing during that time but I got some needed rest and I hope was able to minister some in the process.
From there it was back to Texas, where I visited another STEP Advanced girl, and two of my closest friends. It was wonderful to be able to spend quality time with all of them. Another friend invited me to visit her in Arkansas, and so I flew from Texas to Arkansas, spent several days with her and saw God at work in that time and went to spend time with another STEP Advanced girl who lived in Arkansas before flying home.
The day after I got home friends of mine arrived. They left and another friend arrive. I left before she did to go on a week long backpacking and climbing trip with my brother in Colorado. That was a dream come true and a tone of fun.
It was sometime after those trips, I thought back on my summer and realized what an incredible adventure with God it was. God reminded me that I told Him I wanted to have a year full of adventures with Him. The adventures of that year far surpassed anything I could have imagined. I learned first-hand that when I give my plans to Jesus and allow Him to plan my life, things happen that I never could dream of. I would have been the last person to imagine that I would spend a summer traveling all over the country, never work a day during that time, and come home some two hundred dollars richer. That just does not happen. Unless of course, Jesus is the one planning trip.
That fall I told God I never wanted to stop having adventures with Him. I want the rest of my life to be one big adventure with the Father in heaven. This blog is the product of those adventures. Whether it is stories or thoughts that I share, they all come from living each day with Jesus and the things He is teaching me as I take the adventurous race to eternity.
I titled this post the start of the adventure, but that is not quite accurate. The adventure really started the November before my twenty-third birthday when I fully gave myself to Jesus, or perhaps the real start point was long ago when I was a little girl and asked Jesus to save me. The more I think about it, I do not really know when my adventure start but I know I never want it to end.