Faith is a crazy thing. It makes you do crazy things. Faith requires courage. Faith requires trust. Faith requires putting aside all your fears and doing it anyway.
It's been 8 months since I moved out here. So much has happened since then I feel like it might as well be a year already! Yet time has flown by and I'm sitting here in my new room, on my new bed, with my new car in the driveway, and my new job waiting for my arrival in the morning.
10 months ago, as I sat on the picnic table listening to the gentle waves of the lake lap up on the shore, God asked "Do you trust me?" As soon as I said "Yes" I knew my life would forever change. And so it has.
Terrified would be a great word to describe me at that time. Excited also would have worked. Freaked-out, insecure, neurotic, emotional, all were spot-on adjectives, as well.
Just ask my Daniella, who talked me down from my many melt-downs. Or my mom, who said "I knew" before I even told her. Or my sister, who, at 10 years my junior, was ironically the one who held it all together as I told her the news - I, in turn, did not, as I was a blubbering mess. Or my best friend, who believed in me even though it meant 1500 miles between us. Or my camp friends, who when I said "It's a God thing" - they understood and prayed for me.
So with $800 in my pocket, a car that kept going on too much oil and just enough prayer, and family who so graciously hosted me...I moved out here. Without a for sure job. With way too many student loans. And so with everything I could fit in a '98 dodge neon packed in my trunk and backseat, my girl Ruth and I made the 1,500 mile trek, mid-summer through the desert sans air-conditioning. (Talk about crazy, right?)
The next 5 months would prove to be some of the hardest months of my life yet. 5 months of working 3 jobs, weird hours, not enough hours, yet still somehow barely smidging out enough to pay most of my bills at the time. It wasn't easy. It wasn't optimal, but it worked for the time.
During this time, I ended up as a "mommy's helper" for a family nearby. That family quickly became like another family, and I couldn't wait to get there Wednesday and Friday mornings.
I was also going through a transition, where it was simply best to find another housing situation. So for the month of February, I lived in another town nearby, with the kiddo's grandparents, whom they call "Bestemamma and Bestepapa" - Norwegian for Grandma and Grandpa. Had I not ended up working for this family, I would have never been able to stay with them! And what a blessing that was. Such Godly people, full of wisdom to help me heal and cope with the changes. I was blessed with "spa" (hot tub) nights with bestemamma, listening to her stories of God's faithfulness in her own life, and so much love from them.
During this same time-frame, I also ended up getting a full-time job in the same town I was living in for February! So while I was there, I was working in the same town.
Then, not even a full month into my job, the announcement was made that because of certain circumstances in the company, layoffs would be happening.
Not even two full days earlier, I had gotten a call from a company I had put in my resume for months before, saying they'd kept me on file and would like me to interview. THAT company is in Camarillo, is way more suited towards my career field than the previous job, and actually pays better than the job I had before. I ended up getting that job!
At that same time frame, I ended up moving into a house with two, soon to be 3 other girls in Camarillo. So my first week in Camarillo, I'm just now starting this amazing job in the same town.
Now back up to December. My crazy story with Mary Kay began back in November, when I was running dangerously low of my prescribed lotion for my dry skin on my face. Through a series of happenings, I ended up buying what is now I call my "life-changing purchase." It was a $30 tub of Mary' Kay's "Intense Moisturizing Cream." Anyone who has ever gotten a prescription for anything knows that $30 will barely get you into see the doctor...IF you have a good insurance plan, which at the time, I did not. So the fact I could pay $30 for a product that WORKS LIKE A MIRACLE...well, I was astounded!
Not long after that, I took another leap of faith and purchased my starter kit to also become a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. It's so exciting to look back and visually see the product that changed my face and would eventually change my life.
I could go into greater detail about how Mary Kay has changed my life. So much detail, in fact, it would make this blog way too long. But if you've ever wondered what it'd be like to
a) Work from home and make legitimate awesome money - all on your own time and schedule (!)
c) Work a job where you get to go and have girl time, do make up and chat about life
d) Work in an environment where you are encouraged and supported probably more than you've ever been in any other job...ever...times a million
e) and get LOADS of AMAZING prizes, also including the famous Mary Kay cars!!!!
You need to talk to me. Call me, message me, whatever, but even if you're just curious as to what I do and what career paths you can make it...or even are just curious about trying the product, just talk to me! I'd love to tell you about it!
So, 8 months later, I'm sitting in my room staying up way too late just to get the point across to you that, well, GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!
It's amazing to see how God's hand was in each and every step of the way. And all it took was faith the size of a mustard...well, mountain, because that's how much faith I felt I needed. ;-)
But really. It's incredible when you are following God's call, and though it seems crazy to everyone, even you (neh, ESPECIALLY you) HE WILL PROVIDE A WAY!
Now moving forward, it's easy to still be stuck in my old ways of hesitation, of looking back, of being to scared....but I'm constantly reminded of what great things can happen if I have the faith to follow, if I have the faith to just put one foot in front of the other, if I have the faith to leap, trusting that I will land somewhere.
And now it's great because I have friends who see my story and how God has provided and now that's encouraging them to take the leap of faith they believe they need to take.
So now, dear friends and family...ask what risks God is asking you to take right now. It may just be as simple as getting out of your house and talking to your neighbor, bringing them a plate of cookies. For others it's quitting their day job to pursue their passions, or a cross-country move. Have faith. Take a leap. Try it. You'd be SO surprised about how God makes doors out of brick walls!
