Glorious Hallelujah!

I feel my life has been just thrown into a detour...

I am a recent graduate from Azusa Pacific University with a BA in Business Administration, and what do I have to show for it? A little less then a month after I graduated I had a panic attack - I didn't know where I was going to live, and had no leads towards any job offers....I had nothing to show for the past four years of stress, sweat, and tears.

Back story: Probably a month before I graduated I felt the need to apply to a ministry school based out of a church in Redding, CA called Bethel. Despite what you may have heard about it, the grace of God was on my application to attend their School of Supernatural Ministry. Don't let the "supernatural" get you mixed up. I like to describe it as a personal training season to equip me to go into any field I feel the Lord is calling me into. It's like the parable of the 10 virgins (Matt. 25), I'm preparing myself to always have oil in my lamp, in and out of season to be ready for anything coming my way.

However, this school of ministry was definitely not on my list of things I thought I would do after graduating. For some, it was hard to explain, especially to those who don't know the Lord. To others it looked like I was taking a step back. After awhile, I started to doubt that I was being lead to do the school of ministry because nothing was working out. I couldn't find a place to live, and if I continued through the year in the school of ministry, I wouldn't be able to find a job that catered to my recent degree.

I was brought to a super humbling experience where I realized, I was going to a new community where no one would know my name, they wouldn't know how hard I worked through school. They didn't get to see me work through my previous leadership experiences. I wasn't going to be known by anyone - and I didn't know how to start that up again after having the same, safe community after 4 years. I felt that I had just accomplished everything, just to receive nothing. It was a weird feeling, I didn't know why I would give all that up for something I couldn't visualize, and then it hit me. Our lives not our own...when I gave my whole heart to Christ (in previous blog) I signed up for whatever He wanted, like in Matthew 10:39, "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."

Right. It's an everyday surrender to remember I live my life for the King of Kings, not for my own promotion. So by the grace of His endless mercies I applied for an awesome community house. I could tell the minute I read about the Destiny House at silvertogold.com that there was something ridiculously epic about it - I just had to live there. If you ask Jen (the leader of the house) now, she would tell you that she was putting me to the "test", but honestly during my interview it seemed like it wasn't going to work out for me to live there. Through a lot of prayer, I received a confirmation email to be apart of this awesome community house. Praise. The. Lord.

Little did I know it would be all that I wanted and more. I told the Lord since He wanted me at Bethel, (through a series of events I will later discuss), He was going to provide my way. I wanted to live in a place with a supernatural covering. My explanation of a "covering" is like having someone older than you, who you trust in and trusts you to the point where you have given them space to speak into your life, like a mentor, but they take you under their wing and protect you intentionally. Like a spiritual parent. So I gave this fleece (Judges 6:37) to the Lord, that since He had made a way for me to live under a covering, in a worshipping community of passionate Christ lovers - that He would have to provide a way for me to pay for rent. And if He didn't provide by the end of July then I would know that I'm not suppose to work this whole year.

I can't tell you how exhausting and humbling it is to apply at over 25 different part time positions and not be qualified. I had finally hit a wall and was pretty desperate. I applied to over 10 positions one day, one of which was Chipotle. After getting past the first two interviews...I was offered the job at Chipotle! That was a glorious hallelujah - a representation of a hymn & The Father's love for us. I was overwhelmed with God's provision and could care less about what the job actually was. However, that night I had a dream, not just another crazy dream where you wake up and you feel like you just had a crazy adventure but cant remember it...I remembered every detail of this dream. In such a case, I believe the Lord preserves these dreams for you to interpret (my own opinion). So I prayed about it and let it stew for awhile. The Divine interpreter basically told me that I got the job, so I had to say yes - but to still look out for a better job. What?

I just got a job that I've been praying about since I graduated in May. I'm still in a thankful shock stage where I can't imagine anything else....why would I ask for a better job? Why push my luck and not be thankful for what I already have? It didn't really sit well with me. I just processed with God for awhile (I Thess. 5:21, "...but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good"). Then I finally just thought, "what the heck, God's way is always better then mine anyway, I'm sure He knows what He's doing." So I prayed just to let God be in-control, to take my life and align it this His desired Destiny for me.

The great thing about the Lord (at least one of the many) is that He loves us so much that He gives us choices. He gave us free will, and sometimes Him loving us looks like letting us choosing what we want to do next (which is how I got to Redding in the first place). That is also a glorious hallelujah.
It's unfathomable to think that He would give me a job, then tell me to ask for an even better one at that, and then let me choose the better and not settle.

Back to present day: What have I learned?

I have learned more then a few things since I moved to Redding, one of which has been to continually worship the Lord in all circumstances. No matter what. No matter if I have no idea how I will pay for rent or groceries - even if I have a promise for a better job but don't see it anywhere tangibly yet. Praising the Lord in all circumstances is surrendering yourself over everyday - because your life is not your own, and His kingdom is upside-down...something that doesn't make sense to and earthly mindset!

Praising the Lord because He provided me with a job, praising the Lord because there is another "better" job out there for me. It's like He promised me with a better job - say yes, but know that there is something more I am going to give you, too. When you realize that you are already seated in Heavenly places with Abba Father you see these promises, which look different in all of our lives, as your protection against unbelief, doubt, and a poverty mindset (Ps 91).

Each promise is a revelation, and to quote Bill Johnson, "Revelation reveals what faith must explore."
So I must explore the idea, the promise, that I could even ask for a better job even if I don't feel the need or feel qualified enough to do so.

What I call the biggest "detour" in my life was caused by exploring through faith. Because it's not actually a detour. And having the freedom to believe in a better job in the midst of his prefect provision isn't ungratefulness. It's the tangible exploration of my faith being protected by His promise to provide.

I feel my life was just thrown into detour...or so I thought. More like, the promise of a King to His Beloved Princess, will always endure when I choose to worship Him in all circumstances.




So what has The Lord revealed to you which you haven't explored?