The semester is already over, and I can hardly believe it. After a prayer meeting with students, I headed out to Virginia by plane this afternoon, and was looking forward to meeting the family and friends back on the East Coast. But there was a slight change of plans…
Currently, I am still here in Tucson, due to a flight delay that would have made me miss my connecting flight to Richmond. 
(I am starting to not like airports) The only available flight left 6:00am the next day. Funny enough, “CHANGE OF PLANS” seems to be a reoccurring theme of my year and the way God has shown me his grace through this journey.
A dear friend once told me:
“Expect the unexpected, and in the unexpected, expect to see CHRIST.”
It was a bummer for mechanical errors that caused me to miss my flight home tonight, but I’ve been wanting to update on this blog for a couple weeks now, and it seems like an unplanned evening like this maybe just want I need.
Believe it or not, I am beginning to be glad that our God is full of surprises, because who knows what my life would look like if everything went my way. (yikes!)
So instead of telling you details about my experience of coming and being on staff with the Navigators- in this weird program called EDGE Corps (which I would much rather share face to face) I’ll share a few things that God unexpectedly work through that I’ve cherished.
Story 1: Getting Here
Not many people know this, but when I had found out where I was assigned to come do full-time campus ministry, I was somewhat shocked at how far it was, and in my heart decided not to go to Arizona. I was subconsciously thinking “I am needed here”, “I can stay at UVA and still do God’s work.” So even after I talked to Lori, a women-staffer, and Bryce, the director of U of A Navigators, over the phone I was resolute about this “wise” decision. If you’ve ever had a time when you ran the other direction because of a fear of the unknown, or because of a desire to cling to what is you can see & what is familiar, than you know what I mean. A lot of times, when this happens, a classmate describe it once to be like: “you’re eyes are looking at God saying “yeah, I trust you” but your hands are at the side working ferociously to do it on your own.” <- Me
Well, one of the staff that I talked to asked if they could pray for me at the end of our convo about the ministry and what I was thinking, and (God would have it) in their prayer they said “a man’s heart is deep waters, but a wise man draws it out” -Prov. 20:5 and prayed that this promise would be true. And though I ended up sending an email the next day that said -no, I am NOT doing EDGE Corps anymore, by the end of the day the prayer said the previous night came true. That Sunday near the end of May, three very dear people in my life spoke truth to me and encouraged me to to make a wise decision. And that day, as I spent time in prayer for the first time since I decided to change my mind, I realized… that of the three things I prayed for what my year after college would be like were answered in going to the ministry at U of Arizona and God was being faithful.
~ Through this I learned that I was blessed with people that love me, even to the point of seeing me go somewhere far away, knowing it would not be easy (for both sides). Also I realized why God spoke in the Word about having godly counsel (Prov. 20:5) in our lives and learning to trust these people. And lastly, He is Jehovah Jirah (God the Provider) and I am here in Arizona on account of His mercy and the graciousness of people who were willing to send me.
Story 2: Mishaps Galor
The last full week of the month of October was… rough. In the span of less than a week… (& there were more than these 3)
1) After a campus-wide prayer meeting on Tuesday morning, I ran into a truck and dented it, while backing out of the parking lot . And a week prior, I remember it was getting to my head the thinking that I was a good driver. (it cost me a couple hundred dollars… “sad” )
2) Thursday, 3:30AM there is a knock on our door, and a nice policeman told my roommates (- who answered the door, meanwhile I was asleep, not stirred by the commotion) that a blue Volvo in front of our house was vandalized and items in the car were stolen. Waking up, I was half grouchy and dazed, but I found out quickly that it was my car’s front driver-side window that was shattered and my CD player and CD’s were stolen.
3) 9:00AM that same day, I was walking over with my roommate to help out at our director’s house (something we do weekly) and halfway there… my JCrew black sandal decides to break. That was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was so much build up of stupid & crazy things happening that week, that I didn’t know what to do. So I couldn’t help myself… I had to laugh & shake my head (humbly realizing ~ “I’m not in control”)
~ Interestingly, I had been asking people to pray that God would stretch me and also bring more Unity to my team. And though it sounds crazy, these events were the mysterious way that God wanted to accomplish this. Through me having my car broken into, I got the opportunity to bond with my roommate, who I hadn’t gotten much chance to talk deeply with yet. (the performance mode in me and the stress/intensity of the job kept us from really connecting) Robin, my roommate, had her car broken into the same way 4 days earlier but had it fixed, so inevitably we had to spend time in the car together and in that time got to be real and shared about how tough this job really was. And at the end of the day we decided to change the set up of our room, which was oddly the most refreshing thing I think I ever did! 🙂
Roommates 🙂 – She is a gift
On this journey so far I’ve found it so interesting that when you ask for something, God does hear it. In the present circumstances it never seems like this is true, but His plan to answer prayers are always BETTER than the way that I think that they should be answered. And especially better timed. 😉
Story 3: Now
So even though I did not plan to be here tonight, it’s much better this way. Especially, since the events of the day have inspired me to write this blog. And unexpectedly I got the chance to go make dinner with some of the girls from my bible study in their dorm. And it was such a great time! We ate well and got to talk with some people the just came in to use the kitchen. And I had wanted to hang out with them this Thursday, and didn’t get to. 🙂 Here’s a picture of most of the girls in the Freshman study I led this semester (minus 1).
~ “Thank you Jesus, for being the One in control. In the midst of the craziness and the hard stuff, you are working out your better plan. So I just want to praise you for working out Your good in me, even though I can’t see it at first.”
Life in the desert 
