I'll be Home for Christmas????

Yesterday I just barely made it to Redding airport, because my ride slept in (I was up at 2:00 AM even though I didn't need to leave until 5:00 AM because I was too excited to sleep!) I was the last person to check in, just as they announced they were closing the check in counter. I breathed a sigh of relief, cleared security, and waited impatiently to board the plane so I could start my journey home. They got us loaded on the plane around 6:00 AM and shortly thereafter we were informed  that the fire detection system wasn't working so our flight was cancelled. The soonest flight they could get us out of Redding was the next evening at 8:00 PM. This was not an OK option for me, so I called the airline and they said if I could get to San Francisco they could get me on the 11:24 AM flight, and if I missed that one there was a flight at 8:00 PM. By this time it was just after 7:00 AM.

The only problem was how was I going to get to San Francisco airport (SFO) in less than 4 hours when I had not transportation (I needed to be at the airport by 10:45 to check in). It is at least at 3 hour drive to SFO , and that is if there is no traffic - which is a rarity I was told. The car rental desks weren't open and the only one that had a phone number wouldn't be answering calls until 7:30. I called my house family and asked one of them to pick me up and take me to a car rental place in town in hopes that I just might make it in time. As I was making these arrangements, a gentleman walked up to me and informed me that his wife was coming to pick him up and drive him to SFO and I could ride with them if I liked - he had a connection he had to make at 1:30. They could not guarantee that I would get there by 10:45, but were willing to try. I took them up on there offer and had a wonderful trip down to SFO with them. They were asking me lots of questions about school and pointing out various points of interest along the way. The other times I had driven down to the Bay Area it was dark, so I did not have the opportunity to see many of the sights. It was like a bonus road trip! When we got into San Francisco, they would not let me pay for gas or the toll on the Bay Bridge, saying I was like one of their kids! They were even asking if I'd be willing to puppy/house sit and that I would be able to have a bunch of friends over! It was an amazing connection to make, a unique experience of incredible hospitality from complete strangers. I feel like a special relationship has started with this wonderful couple, and I'm excited to see what God does with it.

We got to SFO at 10:30, hitting absolutely no traffic to speak of. They said they had never seen traffic so clear in SFO and it was like a miracle.......(Thanks Papa God!!!). I arrived with just enough time for to check in, clear security, and get on my flight. And I didn't have to pay for my baggage (despite the fact it was overweight - shocking I know)! All in all, I arrived in Calgary only 3 hours later than originally planned - absolutely incredible considering that at 7:00 AM I was more less stranded at the Redding airport.  I'm just waiting now to see what the airline is going to do to compensate me for the cancelled flight - they have promised "something" but I'm don't know what that is yet! For me, this experience was an stunning example of how much the Lord looks out for me and takes care of things when I trust Him. Sure things didn't go as I had planned, but He clearly demonstrated that He had everything perfectly under control. Thank you Papa! 

I am very excited to be home for Christmas and to catch up with my family and friends. It is so good to be back, although I'm already starting to wonder why in the world I was craving snow so badly! It's cold!!!!! 

 Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Orphans in Suits

OK, so since my last post where I talked about my trip to New York, God has been increasingly showing me that this is definitely the mission trip for me.  My heart for business has just been growing as I continue to fall more and more in love with Jesus, and learn what it practically looks like to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27).

One of the big things I have been learning to let go of, is my performance mentality. The fact that I need to do something in order to earn the affections of another. God loves me no matter what I do. In fact, during one worship service, I felt the Lord say to me "I love you. There is nothing you could do to make me love you more. There is nothing you could do to make me love you less. I love you perfectly just as you are." Plain and simple - He loves me, not based on what I do, but because of who I am. And who am I? I am His beloved adopted daughter (Rom 8:15). As parents love their children, so God loves me, and thinks happy thoughts about me. Psalm 139 is full of verses that remind me of how wonderfully I am made. Before I was born, before I could do anything, God loved me and had good happy thoughts about me.

This understanding has enabled me to genuinely start loving others. Not to see them changed, not to see them "convert" but simply to see them as the Lord sees them and let them know they are loved, honoured and appreciated simply for being who they are. It doesn't matter if they change their actions or not - my job solely is to love and serve as best I can. The enormity of this struck me in class yesterday as we were talking about Daniel from the Old Testament. Here was a guy who had been taken from his homeland as a prisoner of war, went through a 3 year training process to be part of the kings court, and because of the wisdom he received from the Lord, Daniel was discovered to be 10 times better than all of the king's top magicians and enchanters. Not exactly the desired position of a man of fine Jewish pedigree. On top of this, Nebuchadnezzar is considered to be one of the most brutal evil kings ever - historical records back this up. One day the king had a dream and called upon Daniel to interpret. Daniel recognized that this dream does not bode well for the king and he began his interpretation of the dream by stating, "My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!" (Daniel 4:19). Wow!!!! Talk about an attitude toward an evil leader that is countercultural to the typical "norm" Christian society holds. I know that my typical response would be something along the line of "tsk tsk, you should have served God, now you are getting what your deserve....JUDGEMENT!!!!" But Daniel saw the great man the Lord had created Nebuchadnezzar to be - and wanted even this wicked king to succeed in all he did. Daniel understood that God does not anyone to perish (2 Pet 3:9) and this Old Testament prophet truly understood what it meant to demonstrate the love of God. The amazing thing about Daniel is he ended up serving 3 different kings from 2 different empires. When kings change, and especially empires, usually the whole cabinet of the prior ruler is dismissed (or worse) but Daniel continued to be each king's chief advisor.

This is a powerful illustration for me as I go to New York. What would it look like if I go serve these incredibly powerful people with absolutely no agenda? To just love them. What will happen when they encounter the truly unconditional love of the Father? These are people who know what it is to work hard and receive their value strictly from their success. If they suddenly cannot perform as they once did, they go out the door with yesterday Wall Street Journal. These are people who have no grid for unconditional love, because in their world everything is conditional and performance based. Also, shockingly, the business world is one of the least reached people groups in the world, because their need isn't apparent. What would happen if those whom the world considers to be incredibly successful had encounter with the unconditional love of God? If we learn to see them through the eyes of the Father and love them purely as children? No conditions, no expectations, just complete, irrational, God inspired love. Amazing things happen when people encounter the love of God - and He is the only one who can work in their hearts, our job is just to live in a way so people can really see what He looks like. What would it look like if revival broke out amongst those who actually posses the power and influence to change economies and had the ability to solve the problem of poverty instead of reacting to the affects of poverty? (Don't get me wrong - I think it is the explicit calling of followers of Christ to help the orphans and widows and poor.) This may sound like I'm contradicting myself with this last statement, but really I'm dreaming with God about what it could look like if I learn to really love.

My view is changing. I'm learning to love, at any cost, with no conditions. My desire is to go and love the unlovely (be honest - do we really view the financial influencers of the world loveable? Business, especially Wall Street, is generally viewed as a dog eat dog, cutthroat world - not exactly the most loveable people).  In Matthew 19:16-30, Jesus has an encounter with a rich young ruler, who walks away because it is too "costly" to follow Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples it is literally easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:23-24). However, in verse 26 Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that while this is impossible in human terms, we serve a God who makes all things possible. All of us are saved by grace, and each salvation is miraculous, and has absolutely nothing to do with our ability. So I'm super excited to see what God shakes up what I deem to be "impossible" as I go to New York and reach out with agendaless love to the orphans in suits.

If you would like to partner with me in the miraculous things God will do in New York, I would absolutely love it! I want all of my friends and family to have a share in the testimonies and miracles that come from people encountering the unconditional love of the Father. The dates again for the trip are April 8-15, 2013.

The first way you can join with me is in prayer. If you can let me know you are praying that would be tremendous as it is amazing to know that I have people standing with me. I will continue to post to my blog as prayer requests come up, and will start a Facebook event where I can easily post little updates. Please make a comment so I can add you to the event (if I haven't done so already) or so I can email you updates if you are not a Facebook user. I review all comments before they are posted, so any "comments" of this nature will not actually appear on the blog.

The second way you can partner with me is financially. The trip costs a total of $1,800 and is broken down into 3 payments as follows: $200 by December 7, 2012, $700 by January 22, 2013, and $900 by February 26, 2013.  If the Holy Spirit is leading you to partner with me in this manner, it would be a tremendous blessing. It will also enable you to take ownership of what God does on this trip! Should you wish to join with me in this way here are the avenues in which you can make a contribution:

Mail a cheque to my parents. Please comment below and I can give you their address. As noted previously, all comments are screened before being published on the blog, so such comments will not actually be posted. Such donations enable me to use the funds at my discretion and are not tax receiptable. 

Online school donations: https://www.ibssm.org/a/donate/secure-form?student_id=214845&target=tuition

(non-receipted, can be used for missions or expenses)

Online mission donations:  https://missiontrips.ibethel.org/transactions/new/1372

(US tax receipt, only used for missions, excess can only be transferred to another student's mission)

Thank you again for walking through this journey with me! Sorry for such a long winded post - but in case you didn't pick up on it, I'm super excited about all Papa God is teaching me about love!!!!! 

Until next time!!!!!!

Going to Winnipeg.....errrr New York

Hello hello everyone! God is continuing to do big things in me down here, and each day is a new adventure! One of the current themes seems to be the restoration of dreams, particularly in regards to the direction my life is to take. So this is a bit of what that looks like.

Back when I did my Discipleship Training School with YWAM 5 years ago, the Lord gave me a vision of me as the head of a Multi-National Corporation in a respected industry, where I was working with the Holy Spirit to set the business direction, resulting in an extremely successful organization. The idea being that the Lord would use me to align businesses with His plans and purposes. For many years I had shelved this idea, and didn't think much of it, because I had absolutely no idea how to go about pursuing this. Part of my reason for coming here was to see if I could get direction as to whether or not this is something I should pursue, and if so, how to go about it.

Since my arrival here, I have received several words from leaders and students affirming my leadership abilities and generally pointing to this direction. One Friday evening, I got together with a few friends and we were talking about what direction we thought our lives would take when we were finished at BSSM. When it was my turn, I shared this vision, the first time I had shared it in detail in years (possibly since I initally received it on DTS). My friends affirmed that they could definitely see me pursuing this, but I still wasn't convinced. That Sunday, the message at church was about God restoring dreams and wanting to give us dreams. The first thing that popped into my mind was by business vision and it felt like the Lord was saying to me that this would be fulfilled and even more!

I could see the Lord was starting to lead me in this direction, as the activation that I have for school is "Culture of Celebration in Business." To explain, our activation is the part of our schooling where we get to start taking what we have learned and actually putting it in to practice in the community. My activation is focused on meeting up with business owners in the Redding area and bring joy and an atmosphere of celebration to their business. We also pray with them, give prophetic words, and offer business ideas as we feel the Lord's leading to do so. My activation group consists of 10 other first year students, most of whom have prior business experience and have a heart for seeing God at work in the business community.

God really showed me He was making my dream a reality when it came time to choose my mission trip for the year. I was super excited about all of the potential exotic locations He could send me! I didn't have a particular country in mind, but I was thinking I'd like to go to either Asia or South America as I had yet to visit those continents. As I read through list of options the description for a certain trip really captured my attention. It said:

 What is God's heart for the economy? What happens when Heaven invades business? This mission will take you deep into the heart of America's finance and business center where you will demonstrate partnering with God in the marketplace. We will bring Heaven into board rooms and meetings with executives, make declarations and leak Presence into the New York Stock Exchange and other significant landmarks, pray and prophesy over influential business people and add momentum to putting God back into "In God we trust."

My initial reaction was "God, seriously, you want me to go to New York? That's not very "missiony." Can't I do this and go somewhere exotic too? It says they are giving students in a certain class preference, and I haven't taken it, is it really worth applying? I guess if this is really where you want me to go, my lacking this "preference" will not be an obstacle. But really? New York?" I felt like the Fountain Tire guy who just found out he was going to Winnipeg instead of Hawaii (Going to Winnipeg commercial) or like Jonah who was being told he was off to Nineveh. However, as I read the other trips and prayed about where I should go, I knew I needed to put this as my number one choice (we had to choose 5 and would be informed if we received any of our top 5 picks, if we didn't we'd have to choose 3 more).

Once I made my selection, I felt a  confidence that I would be going to New York. I just knew that this is where the Lord wanted me for my outreach. Several of my friends also told me that as they read through the list of trips, they thought of me when they read about New York. About 1 week after I submitted my application, I went to pre-service prayer at church, and the pastor leading it came up to me. He said he recognized me from my picture and introduced himself as the leader of the New York mission trip. It took a minute for the implication of his statement to sink in, and I actually went back to him to ask if that meant I was on the New York missions trip. He confirmed that I was, and as we talked he recalled details of my application and mentioned that mine stood out as someone to be included even though I was not in that "preferred" class. I was ecstatic! The Lord had definitely made a way for me to go to New York! And to top it off, I was able to receive the news in person 5 days before the "official" missions confirmation letters were sent out. I no longer felt like I was being "sent to Winnipeg," instead I was not eagerly anticipating what God was going to open up for me when I got there! God is showing me that He knows my dreams, and now that I have placed it in His hands, He is bringing it about! I'm not sure what this looks like going forward, but I definitely am excited to see what this next step in that direction brings!

Because I was unsure as to what would be happening with the missions trip, I did not particularly budget for it, trusting that the Lord would supply and provide for wherever He wanted to send me outside of Bethel. So as my friends and those who have taken an interest in what God is doing in and through me here at school, this is an opportunity for you to support me in a more tangible way. I am already incredibly appreciate of all the prayer support I know I am receiving, and I will continue to this more and more and the Lord continues His work in me. Also, if the Lord lays it on your heart to support me financially for my mission trip, it would be greatly appreciated! I will be in New York from April 8-15, 2013. The best way to get that to me is to send it to my parents. Please comment and I will send you their address. Unfortunately, only US donation receipts are issued for contributions to missions trips only (not for school expenses) and I'm not familiar with the rules for their deductibility on Canadian tax returns. If you still would like to contribute online, here are the links:  

online school donations: https://www.ibssm.org/a/donate/secure-form?student_id=214845&target=tuition

(non-receipted, can be used for missions or expenses)

online mission donations:  missiontrips.ibethel.org

(US tax receipt, only used for missions, excess can only be transferred to another student's mission)

Please know I'm just making this information available for if you would like to support me. There is no expectation or obligation - I'm just wanting to keep you up to date with what is going on :)

To wrap up this entry, I just want to say how very excited I am with what God is doing in me and where He is leading. I have no idea where this will all lead, but it is very encouraging to know that the Lord has given me dreams and is now starting to show me how He is going to fulfill them! This adventure of life with Him is the best ride in the world!

Walking as Royalty

It seems that a focus of school thus far has been on reshaping and reestablishing my identity. I have had lots of people tell me about the characteristics that I have, but I have always had difficulty accepting these as really true of me. I have been reluctant to step into these things, because my thought was, "who am I that I think I can do all of that, or be those things."

Well, that changed this week. I was meeting with my small group on Wednesday and we were talking about the fact that as believers, we have been adopted by God as His children (Romans 8:15). This means I am a daughter of the King of Kings, and the daughter of a king is princess! 1 Peter 2:9 calls it being a "royal priest." I had heard all of this before, but when I was talking with the other girls in my small group, I finally seemed to grasp the concept that I was royalty and that my identity of being royal had been under attack since I was a kid in Grade 3!

As we were praying together, I began to see myself in a new light - my royal traits became apparent to me for the first time.It was as if Windex was being taken to the mirror I use to view myself and all of the guck and grime was being cleaned off and I was starting to see the real me for the first time. First of all, I'm quite tall and often wear heels and try to carry myself confidently (previously this had been a facade to attempt to portray my confidence) - but now i recognize this that I have royal bearing. Secondly I'm quite strong - physically and mentally; an indication of royal strength. Third, I have always been very academic, typically at the top of my class, and I feel this is a sign of royal intellect. Lastly, the meaning of the name Heidi is "Noble" - so my name in and of itself testifies to my royal lineage.

As part of this - the song The Anthem by Jake Hamilton has become a declaration of my new found identity.Particularly the refrain which repeats:

I am Royalty

I have destiny

I have been set free

I'm gonna shake history

The Anthem - Jake Hamilton

More than anything, all of this is an internal shift of how I view myself and how I want to approach life going forward. I am realizing that insecurities no longer have a place in my life. This is not meant to be boastful or arrogant, but rather a recognition of whom I have been all along, and instead of trying to bury that, embracing my identity and learning to walk in it. 

Perhaps it is time to watch The Princess Diaries.......

Pull on the strings of my heart

"Pull on the strings of my heart, for I long to respond to you."

That has been my cry to the Lord since my second week here at BSSM.

Monday September 17 and Tuesday September 18 have become landmark days in my relationship with the Lord. The details of these days are far too intimate and personal for me to share in this space, and to be honest, I still am unable to comprehend what took place. I do know, however, that the Lord began a work within me, and I will not be the same again.

 Around here it is very common to hear people say "Holy Spirit told me...." "I feel the Lord telling me to tell you....." "I saw a picture of a..." "The Lord gave me a dream last night..." This isn't just the odd person here or there, it is something that is understood to be accessible to everyone. One of the books we were given to read is called "Hosting the Presence" by Bill Johnson, and it clearly demonstrates that the Presence of God (aka the Holy Spirit) is to be an active part of every believer's life. One thing I do know about the event I mentioned, is that I received a taste of this, and now all I want is more of the Lord. My deepest desire is to know Him in an intimate and personal way. I fully believe this is something that is available to me and is the nature of the relationship the Lord wants to have with me as well.

That is the best I can articulate what has been going on with me during this "construction" phase. The Lord is definitely working on things in me, and I will do my best to communicate what I feel I can share as things are revealed to me.

In closing, here are 2 songs that I find clearly express my heart's desire. The first is "Draw Near" and it is where the line from the beginning of the post came from. The second song is "The More I Seek You." I heard this song during worship for the first time yesterday and when I sang the chorus yesterday, my heart screamed within me "this is what I desire!

Draw Near

The More I Seek You

Construction in Progress

Well I've only just arrived and God has started doing some major construction in my life. I am unable to describe exactly what is occuring, but I know the Lord has planted me in a safe place and I can't wait to see what it is He is up to. But in the mean time I am "under construction" and so will not be posting for the next bit (I think about a month)

See you on the flip side :D

"Don't you Remember?" Part 3

And now for the 3rd and final part of how I ended up on Redding.

So after my time at the Jesus Culture event in early February 2012, I had a couple weeks at home before heading off on a 10 day SCUBA trip with my parents. I figured this would be the perfect time to discuss my going to BSSM as we would be stuck living together for 10 days, and this topic was definitely the elephant in the room. The first few days went by with no real mention of my time in Redding. My family doesn't do conflict well, and so for the most part we avoided the topic. But eventually it did come up, and when it did, it was primarily with tears on my part, frustration on my Dad's and Mom stuck in the middle (this is purely my assessment of how I viewed things - my parents could easily have a different perspective, so please bear that in mind). I gave a litany of reasons as to why I should go: "I only have one life to live," "I don't have anything keeping me permanently to Calgary," "I don't want to have regrets about opportunities not taken," those kinds of things. My Dad was concerned about me building my career, getting on with "life", and wasting my "key earning years." This was a very difficult conversation, because I felt like he thought I was being foolish and that I was disappointing him. Once I had used up all of my "reasons" for wanting to go, I finally blurted out, "I feel like this is what God is calling me to do. I don't know why He wants me to go,  but I feel like this is something I need to do." To that my Dad responded, "If God is really calling you to that, then there is nothing I can say against it." In that instant the burden lifted and I knew my parents were now fully supporting me, and not just resigned to my decision. It was also a big moment for me as I fully recognized God's call on my life for this. It was as if in that moment I relinquished control of this adventure to Him.

Me being me, once I get home from my vacation, my mind kicked into overdrive about all that needed to happen before I went - find somewhere to live in Redding, find someone to rent my Condo in Calgary, arrange travel medical insurance, make sure I have the necessary insurance/registration for my car......and the list goes on. #1 on my list was finding someone to rent my place, so that Thursday at Home Church, I ask my friends to pray about that. Friday morning I received a text from one of my friend's saying a guy, whom I know, is getting married in September, and they would potentially be looking for a place to live - would I be OK with giving my number out. I said "of course!" So emailing and texting back and forth with the guy and his fiancé, it sounded like they are interested in my place! They came to check it out, and were very happy with it. This was so awesome, because it worked out well for both of us. It was the type of place they were looking for in a decent area of the city, and for me, I know and trust them, and was not just leaving my house in the hands of perfect strangers! As we did all of the paperwork and prepared for the transition, each of us was more concerned with protecting the other's interests than our own!  God's amazing answer #1

Confirmation from God #2 was not one I was particularly looking for. As I mentioned earlier, things at my job with the Christian Media organization were not going as well as I had initially hoped they would. Now that I knew I was planning to go to Redding, my mantra became "5.5 months, 5 months - I can make it until then." I was scared to tell anyone I worked with about my school plan, for fear they would let me go as soon as they found out, and I'd be stuck without a job - which I definitely needed at this point! Then on Monday, March 26, 2012, a few days before the end of my 6 month probation, I was pulled into the General Manager's office. I was informed that they felt I was not worth what they were paying me and I could either take a pay cut of $30,000/year or they would let me go that day. Needless to say, that was my last day there. I was shocked, frustrated, and most of all hurt. I had tried to make it work there, my journal was full of pages asking God what I could do to satisfy them, to serve and do the best I possibly could in the role. Obviously this was one of those situations where I just wasn't a "good fit."

Historically, my response to a disappoint of this scale would be to turn my back on God, because to me this was a clear indication that He could care less about what was going on with me - especially since He had this brilliant idea for me to go gallivanting off to school in California. However, I had kickboxing class that night, and I managed to burn off a good deal of frustration there....don't worry I warned the girl holding the pads for me that night! After that, I had coffee with a very dear friend and good conversation and prayer helped alter my perspective. I came out of that coffee time seeing this as a blessing! I had been removed from a situation where I was very unhappy and  had the potential to again destroy my view of those who called themselves Christians - which would not have been good as I preparing to enter a rather large school of Christians. So instead of being upset, I was actually thankful that God had released me from that place.

There was a hiccup in this however, because I was now unemployed. I would continue to be paid for another 3 weeks due to accrued vacation, stat holidays, and pay in lieu of notice, but that definitely wasn't going to last me until I departed at the end of August. And I definitely could afford to draw on my savings and still afford to attend school in the fall. But who would hire a fully accredited accountant for a 4 month contract over the summer, at the wage I needed? I realized that this wasn't actually my problem. I had not quit my job, it had been taken from me while I had been giving it the best I knew how, and it was God's idea for me to go to the school, so I decided it was His problem. If He wanted me to go to BSSM, He was going to have to find me a 4 month contract position that paid the equivalent to the salary I had at previous jobs. And He did just that!!! I was let go on Monday, Wednesday morning I started making phone calls and by Wednesday afternoon I had 2 interviews for 2 contract positions lined up. I started at my new contract job before I even received my final pay out from the media company! God provided beyond anything I could have expected! And on top of all of this, when I left for school in August, the Vice-president and some of the other employees told me to let them know when I get back to Calgary in the spring and they will find work for me! God is sooooo good!!!!

Since #2 wasn't even on my original to-do list, the next thing I had to do was find somewhere to live once I got to Redding. I had no idea how to go about this as I had only lived with family up until the time I purchased my own condo, but I started sending out emails in search of a place. Then one day my Mom went for lunch with one of her friends. They were having the usual "what are your kids doing now?" conversation, and Mom mentioned that I was going to be going to school in Redding in the fall.  Mom's friend responded with "Oh really? We have friends in Redding! They have 4 daughters, 2 of which are away at university and I think they might be looking to rent out a room. Let me get in touch with them and let you know." This led to some Facebook messages back and forth, a Skype conversation, and a mutual agreement that we would be helping each other out if I came to live with them. God's answer #3 was a complete blessing, and I am already loving my adopted family :)

These are the 3 big examples of how I felt God made it very clear that He wanted me to go Redding. There were a bunch of little things as well, from a change in my condo and car insurance policy that resulted in significant annual savings, to getting what seems to be a great deal on travel medical insurance. Another highlight was the day I moved out of my condo. All day it had been raining, but I was confident that the skies would clear for my move. However, even as I was driving home from work it was still drizzling a bit. I didn't have any tarps to cover my things, as I hadn't considered the possibility of rain. I picked up some cheap tarps at the dollar store, but was still confident I wouldn't need them, and as I left the store, I noticed the sky clearing. Once my moving help arrived, the skies had completely cleared, and it was dry for the remainder of the evening. Amazing  God! On top of this, once we had loaded everything, it appeared we were one truck short, just for some random bits a pieces. One phone call, and my friend who lived 5 minutes away was able to come with his truck. He had just gotten home from work and the timing of my call was perfect. I didn't know that - but God sure did!

Once the Lord laid the initial framework of making me aware of BSSM back in the Spring of 2011, it was as if I could see the path unfolding before me. When I came to Redding in February 2012, it confirmed I needed to get on the road that would bring me back in time to start school in the fall. From the moment I acknowledged that I was stepping out in faith and following where the Lord was calling me,  it was like He was lighting up the runway for me so I had no doubt as to where I was headed. I am so incredibly thankful to my Papa God for bringing me to this place. I don't know what He has planned for me here, but I have no doubt that is exactly where He wants me right now!

Thank you my dear friends and family for supporting me as I have made my journey to Redding. As I continue this adventure, I will do my best share what I can of what I'm learning and experiencing. Let's go!!!!!!!!!!