Few know the full story of what lead to this born-n-raised Texan packing her bags (while still jobless) and heading north to join in the ministry of a collegiate church plant called Insideout Church. It has been too long since my last post, so I thought this would be the best place to hash out the story for everyone. This going to be the first of a three part story so hang tight! I'll try to keep it to the highlights but not making any promises. My blog is the only place I'm not limited by word count so thanks in advance to tracking with me ;)
Four years ago I was in my second semester as a freshman at Texas A&M University where I found myself in the midst of my first "what-to-do-with-my-summer" frenzy. I grew up going to Pine Cove Christian Camps in Tyler, Texas, and it had been my longtime dream to eventually become a counselor there and be one of the cool college women I looked up to year after year of camp.
As soon as I got word that Pine Cove was on campus recruiting, I signed up for an interview that would get me to what I knew would be my summer time destiny. You can probably guess where this is going, but much to my dismay I was rejected from the position and left wondering what on earth I could have done to deserve this dissapointment. My way of dealing with the heartbreak was throwing myself into a tizzy of applying for every summer job I could get my hands on an application for. Finally, a dear and truthful friend of mine wisely stepped in and told me words that ultimately lead to one of the most pivotal summers of my life.
Katy Shaver lovingly but bluntly said, "Amber, it's great that you are so eager and everything but why don't you just try to stop applying for everything and just let God show you something?"
I smiled, nodded and thanked her for the suggestion, but on the inside I was rolling my eyes and telling myself that Katy just didn't understand. I wanted something big to do with my summer, and I wanted an answer to what that would be yesterday. Anyone else know the feeling?
Her truthful advice eventually sank in and I realized how much I was relying on self and attempting to direct my own path. I decided that I would "fast" from applying for summer jobs until I felt the Lord reveal something specific for me to do.
MONTHS WENT BY. I was starting to sweat it. Most of my friends were either signed up to take summer classes, work at a camp, do an internship or go home for the summer. I still had no idea, and it was getting late in the game. It was about the same time that I had begun doubting God's leadership once again and made up my mind to ditch this little break from applying when my freshman Bible study leader, Devon Lee, approached me.
"Amber, I feel like God wanted me to tell you that you should apply for Go Now Missions," she told me one Thursday night at the Aggie BSM.
I didn't know much about this organization or others who had participated in it quite yet but I took this as the divine direction I had been anxiously awaiting. I praised Him for coming through and speaking to me in His perfect timing and applied to summer missions through this Texas Baptist initiative to mobilize college students for the purpose of spreading the Gospel.
At the time all I wanted to do was go into the great unknown and only checked off interest in the international jobs from the missions list. Long story short, I did not get offered a spot in any of the exotic places working with orphans or remote villages that I had picked out for myself. Instead, I received an offer to spend 10 weeks in Fort Collins, CO working with church planters. In my limited perspective this was the exact opposite of where I thought I should be doing missions.
I called Brenda Sanders, Director of Go Now Missions, and probed for a better explanation of what seemed to me like the strangest of appointments. God used Brenda's encouragement to push me to commit to a summer of serving in FoCo. Don't get me wrong. I loved me some Colorado, but it wasn't what I pictured for that summer-- all part of God's master plan to set me on His path for my life that leads to immeasurably more than I could have ever asked or imagined. (Eph. 3:21)
Praise God he didn't give me what I thought I wanted because Summer 2010 radically changed me. Stand by for part two!
Moral of this part of the story:
Four years ago I was in my second semester as a freshman at Texas A&M University where I found myself in the midst of my first "what-to-do-with-my-summer" frenzy. I grew up going to Pine Cove Christian Camps in Tyler, Texas, and it had been my longtime dream to eventually become a counselor there and be one of the cool college women I looked up to year after year of camp.
As soon as I got word that Pine Cove was on campus recruiting, I signed up for an interview that would get me to what I knew would be my summer time destiny. You can probably guess where this is going, but much to my dismay I was rejected from the position and left wondering what on earth I could have done to deserve this dissapointment. My way of dealing with the heartbreak was throwing myself into a tizzy of applying for every summer job I could get my hands on an application for. Finally, a dear and truthful friend of mine wisely stepped in and told me words that ultimately lead to one of the most pivotal summers of my life.
Katy Shaver lovingly but bluntly said, "Amber, it's great that you are so eager and everything but why don't you just try to stop applying for everything and just let God show you something?"
I smiled, nodded and thanked her for the suggestion, but on the inside I was rolling my eyes and telling myself that Katy just didn't understand. I wanted something big to do with my summer, and I wanted an answer to what that would be yesterday. Anyone else know the feeling?
MONTHS WENT BY. I was starting to sweat it. Most of my friends were either signed up to take summer classes, work at a camp, do an internship or go home for the summer. I still had no idea, and it was getting late in the game. It was about the same time that I had begun doubting God's leadership once again and made up my mind to ditch this little break from applying when my freshman Bible study leader, Devon Lee, approached me.
"Amber, I feel like God wanted me to tell you that you should apply for Go Now Missions," she told me one Thursday night at the Aggie BSM.
I didn't know much about this organization or others who had participated in it quite yet but I took this as the divine direction I had been anxiously awaiting. I praised Him for coming through and speaking to me in His perfect timing and applied to summer missions through this Texas Baptist initiative to mobilize college students for the purpose of spreading the Gospel.
At the time all I wanted to do was go into the great unknown and only checked off interest in the international jobs from the missions list. Long story short, I did not get offered a spot in any of the exotic places working with orphans or remote villages that I had picked out for myself. Instead, I received an offer to spend 10 weeks in Fort Collins, CO working with church planters. In my limited perspective this was the exact opposite of where I thought I should be doing missions.
I called Brenda Sanders, Director of Go Now Missions, and probed for a better explanation of what seemed to me like the strangest of appointments. God used Brenda's encouragement to push me to commit to a summer of serving in FoCo. Don't get me wrong. I loved me some Colorado, but it wasn't what I pictured for that summer-- all part of God's master plan to set me on His path for my life that leads to immeasurably more than I could have ever asked or imagined. (Eph. 3:21)
Praise God he didn't give me what I thought I wanted because Summer 2010 radically changed me. Stand by for part two!
Moral of this part of the story:
Ditch your broken internal compass and instead listen to God's voice pointing you to true north.
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