Tuesday, July 20, 2010

We knew it was bound to happen someday.. pt.1



Remember the story where God had told Abram to leave his country and head somewhere totally foreign and new? I always think about how freaked out he had to have been to leave a place that he had been living in all his life. How freaked out he had to have been to leave behind his friends and close family members. And if he were anything like me, how freaked out he might have been thinking about the possibility that where he is going may not have all of his favorite foods!What would you think if God told you to 'Leave' the land that you're used to for a place that you've never been to? How would you feel? Today I am one of the many that can answer that question and give you a genuine answer: Terrified.

It all started in 2007
My fiance's brother was getting married. We lived in sunny California while him and his woman lived in Louisiana. I remember freaking out about the plane ride we would have to take in order to make it to their wedding. I did eventually get on that plane though, keeping all my nerves and anxieties to myself, constantly praying. We eventually made it and I fell in love with the place. The culture of the people was totally different than Cali, very friendly, easy going and their food was beyond amazing! The Pastor that married them found out that I was attending a Bible College and offered me an internship when I would finish. I never really thought about it but I would tease Monica about moving to Louisiana. She'd freak out, and it was really fun teasing her about it.

A Promise in 2007
I took my first trip to New Mexico with Monica and her family. Her parents bought a house out there to retire in and I totally fell in love with this place. The desert-like look, the adobe homes, the Food! Not to leave out the awesome church that they have in albuquerque led by Pastor Skip Heitzig!

I began to take more trips in 2007 to other states, one was Utah for a business trip my job sent me on. It was after I took all these trips that I began to wonder why it was that I was visiting so many states in so little amounts of times, when all my life I had never even left California. (Well, I had been to TJ, Mexico, but does that even count?).

As I was thinking about all this, asking the Lord about it, I felt a strong impression in my heart that I was so sure it was the Lord. He spoke to my heart and said that I will one day leave California for another state and plant a church. I was so blown away by this that I started bawling. Years before, within the first week that I got saved God had let me know that I was going to be a Pastor, I never would have thought that part of His plan was to plant a church through me.


And so I've held on to the promise of leaving California, waiting, praying, wondering for the past 3 years what God was going to do, when it was going to happen. I had eventually got to the point where I gave up on a dream I was so convinced God had given me.. especially lately. I eventually got to the point where I was ready to accept that I was never going to leave California.. that Monica and I would one day get married and raise our family here. I began to become content with being here.. but boy was my world rocked at this point.. man how I freaked out when God came and moved in major ways..

3 comments:

  1. Man .....what a way to leave us hanging ....hurryyyyyyyy I have no patience ...

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  2. We already know what part 2 or 3 is going to say, but even more curious about part 4, 5 and beyond :)

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  3. Dude I've been feeling the same way lately. I mean, I love Cali, but I feel like I'm being drawn away from here, to move somewhere else. I'm scared dude!

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