I realize looking back over the past year that it seems as if God has been slowly piecing things together in my life for this trip and to learn more about the things we have learned. It all started with wanting to start a homeless shelter in my college town. I have no idea where or why I got the idea, or when but i soon forgot because naturally I have no idea about that stuff and thought I could never do anything- I'm just a college student. So in January I go to Passion 2010 In GA, and was expecting God to show me all this stuff about my future and my life. What did I get-nothing, I got nothing all week, until the last day when I decided to skip everything and go to the prayer room. That's where God put that little thought about the shelter into my head again. I still thought it was so crazy but I was so fired up about it and went home and told my college minister. From there we talked and he told me that if this was God talking to me about this then I had to do something. He told me to first figure out what was going on in the town. To talk to the people and build relationships and to find out what the people really needed. So I did my research and started volunteering at the Salvation Army. I slowly started talking with the people and one guy started talking with me one day and I was listening and talking back but I was also supposed to be cleaning the tables, so I started to scoot away and told him that I had to work. Then God slapped me straight in the face. He looked at me and asked what I was there for. I told him to volunteer and just help out. He thought differently. He said "no, you're here to talk to people to listen and to get to know the people here. Wow did I feel terrible after that. I could not have been more hurt by that. It was if Jesus was sitting there in front of me instead of this man. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. So from then on I try to interact with the people more than I did before.
Our college ministry also began a separate ministry called Love Brownwood, where we all get together on a Friday and bake hundreds of dozens of cookies to pass out to the neighborhoods around our church. It has blossomed so much over the past few months that we began building personal relationships with the people we delivered cookies to, and now we deliver food to the ones we have that connection with, every Wednesday night and just sit and talk with them.
From there after school got out I looked back over the school year and realized how unhealthy that my eating habits had been and decided to start eating and shopping healthier for myself. I had also decided to go to my grandparents to learn more about gardening and flowers since that is my grandmother's passion and love. So my sister and I visited her for two weeks before this mission trip. I realize now that that set me up to love gardening, because I loved every minute of it with my grandparents, so much so that I transplanted flowers she gave me and planted them at home. So there, was instilled in me the passion for gardening along with the already present passion for homeless people and people in general. This trip across the state has shown me that God is working in everything that I do and is involved in every decision that I have been making in my life. Its crazy to think that it hasn’t been me at all making these decisions but rather my father, who has my best interests and the interests of the rest of his children in mind. From here I only hope that I can be a person to make a difference, even if its only a small one, God can do great things with small decisions.
Dani :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment