Things Are Changing

Things have changed lately. I was supposed to start grad school tomorrow. I was going to start a masters program to earn a Masters of Social Work with a concentration International Community Development. It goes so well with the continuing work I want to do in Ethiopia. Well, I was in a car accident on December 8, 2009 and I need to get major back surgery that I am still waiting for. Being on disability for almost 9 months has hit me very hard financially. I did not receive disability for 2 month and had to use my savings and borrow money to try and get through. That savings was to pay for grad school. With that money gone and things being super tight already, I just could not afford to go to school right now. I wouldn't be able to pay tuition let alone books. So I did a very hard thing and I completely withdrew from school. With that I lost my $350 deposit. I do not know when or if I will go back to grad school. At this point it's just on hold.

With finally handing this area over to God and not trying to do it my way, He has put something awesome on my heart. I had planned all along that I would go to grad school, graduate with my MSW in May of 2012 and then move to Nashville in June of 2012. I have felt for over a year now that God wants me to move to Nashville. I'm not sure why yet, but I will go where ever He wants me to go. Well, did you get the part where I said "I had planned". It was my plan to do things this way. With withdrawing from grad school and totally submitting the situation to God and turning it all over to Him, He is revealing more of His plan for me. I already know that He wants me to do work in Ethiopia and help the people over there, but that is just a small piece of it. And I know that if I am obedient to Him very much more will happen in my life and He will take me where He wants me to go.

John 14:23 says, Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." If we obey His teaching, They will come and make Their home with us. His teaching, I believe, is anything He is showing or revealing to us because we are learning something every time He does that. If we obey everything He shows us or reals to us, He will make his home with us. The Contemporary English Version says it exactly how I'm getting at saying it "and We will come to them and live in them". If we obey the Lord, He will live in us. The living God will dwell in us!! (When we ask God to be our Savior the Holy Spirit comes into us. I'm fully aware of that, but my point here is that it will be much more than just that.) And that is how we are supposed to live. We are to obey Him and have Him dwell in us. In order to fully obey Him we HAVE to make Him Lord of our lives. We have to give Him control over everything! When we took Jesus as our Savior, we GAVE our life to Him. It is NO LONGER our life, but it is HIS LIFE. He is to make all the decisions and lead us to where He wants us to be.

This past weekend, God taught this to me. Through many different ways. He wants me to give Him full control over my life. I have struggled in this for a while. There have been things I still want to decide for myself and have control over. We CANNOT live like this. It just won't work. Jesus is LORD and we need to live like that is true. We can't say one thing and then do another. It's all or nothing. This relationship is all or nothing. You have to make the decision that EVERYTHING is now the Lord's and He is in control of it all.

So remember how I said it was MY plan to finish grad school and then move to Nashville in 2012. Well now that I have fully give it over to the Lord, He is revealing His plan for me. And remember we have to OBEY if we want Him to live in us. The Lord wants me to move to Nashville next year! I am handing the reins over to Him and OBEYING! When my lease is up at the end of June 2011, I will not be renewing and I will be packing up and moving to Nashville. I don't know what is going to happen when I get there, but I am OBEYING! This is His life and He wants me to be there so I am going.

He has also settled some nerves and has let me know that my surgery and everything will be taken care of before that and I will be healthy. This is big! I have never fully handed everything over to Him and obeyed. I am eagerly looking forward to moving and seeing what the Lord has planned for me. I of course will update this all along the way.