A Season of Change

On June 3^rd, my family began a sixteen hour-long journey into a new season of our lives. A season marked by change – change of address, change of lifestyle, change of heart.

Six months earlier, my dad accepted a job with an insurance company based in Neenah, Wisconsin, making in necessary for him to spend the next months living alone in a Wisconsin condo until my mom, my sister, and I were able to join him last month. I guess you can say that the season of change started in the time in between December and June. It was during those six months that my life began seriously changing. I began a dating relationship with an incredible young man in April; I committed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated high school in May; I packed up and moved to Wisconsin in June. Little did I know at the time that this was just the beginning of the change I was going to experience…

Our first stop on the drive to Wisconsin - Coffea!
Because what's a road trip without exploring local
coffee shops?
(Brittany (left), my best friend since first grade,
joined us on this road trip)

At Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana.
The setting of Karen Kingsbury's Redemption Series.

My sister, Emilee, at Cloud Gate (a.k.a. The Bean)
in Chicago.

After 16+ hours stuck in a car,
we finally arrived in Wisconsin.

I was overwhelmed.

In the last two months of my senior year, I experienced joy like I had never known before. God had brought a special young man into my life who had pursued me despite the knowledge that I was to move come June. God had given me peace about attending UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall despite the fact that my family would be in a different state. God had carried me through my final months of my senior year, allowing me to pass AP Calculus (a miracle in and of itself) and graduate from Calvary Baptist Day School, the school that had been my home for twelve years. Despite my joy, I was overwhelmed. I felt the weight of all of this change weighing me down until I was holding on by a single thread. Beginning a relationship, committing to college, graduating from high school, and then moving sixteen hours away from everything I had ever known all within a couple of months was too much for me to carry. I was falling apart.

 

Jackson and me on prom night.

Receiving my diploma.
I GRADUATED!!!

On June 3^rd, my season of change only intensified. On June 3^rd, it was my heart that began to undergo the change. I didn’t want to be in Wisconsin. End of story. I wanted to be home. I wanted to go to the pool parties and the movie nights, the day trips with my friends and the dates with my boyfriend. I wanted to spend this last summer with the people who I had grown up with, because the truth is this:: Once we go to college, I will never see the majority of these people – the people I call my friends, my Calvary family – ever again. But here’s the catch:: I also wanted to be with my family, and unfortunately, my family was in Wisconsin. I was torn, and I was at my breaking point.

The Calvary Baptist Day School senior class of 2015.
My friends.
My family.

My best friends::
Olivia, Brittany, and Michaela.

My small group from church -
My prayer partners.
My confidantes.
My friends.

I was miserable.

I spent the entire month of June in utter misery. Although physically I was in Wisconsin, my head and my heart were still in North Carolina. I entered into a season of loneliness. I was desperate for some sort of comfort, but I felt as if God had abandoned me. One night in particular that stands out in my mind occurred towards the end of June. I was sitting in the living room when I received a group message from those whom I had participated with in our school’s fall production of Cheaper by the Dozen and our spring production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The text was an invitation to go as a drama group (a.k.a. Drama Family) to Tropical Smoothie Café followed by seeing Inside Out at the movie theater. It was a great group getting together to go, and I wanted nothing more than to be a part of it. 

The cast of CBDS's fall production of Cheaper by the Dozen.
My
Family.

The cast of CBDS's spring production of Disney's
Beauty and the Beast.

I think that was the moment when I hit rock bottom. I was heartbroken. As the texts kept coming with people confirming that they would be going to the movie, the harder it became for me to breathe. Later that night, after the rest of my family had gone to bed, the texts were still coming in with further plans and expressions of excitement. My chest began to tighten to the point where I was doubled over in pain. With each text that came, the tighter my chest got, and the harder it got to breathe. It escalated quickly and before I knew it, I was in the middle of an anxiety attack. It was the third one I had experienced that month, but it was nonetheless scary. I cried myself to sleep that night, feeling more homesick and broken-hearted than ever before.

I was desperate for peace.

Meanwhile, I was preparing to go on a mission trip to New York City with my youth choir Vertical Generation (VG). While the rest of VG was making last minute preparations back home in North Carolina, I was simply trying to get through the days leading up to June 27^th when I would board a plane to NYC and would be reunited with my friends if only for a week.

If I’m completely honest, I had mixed emotions about the trip. On one hand, I was beyond excited for the opportunity to see my friends again, but on the other hand, I knew that this trip would only mean another goodbye at the end of the week, and I didn’t know if my heart could handle that.

If I’m completely honest, I almost didn’t go to New York City because I hate goodbyes, and as broken as I already was, I was scared that I would completely shatter if I had to endure another goodbye.

If I’m completely honest, the only reason I went to New York with VG was because as much as I hate goodbyes, I hate disappointing people even more. I was afraid that if I didn’t go, I would run the risk of disappointing my friends who were just as anxious as I was to be reunited.

So on June 27^th, I boarded a plane to New York City where I would experience a drastic change of heart.

When I arrived in NYC, I settled in for the longest wait of my life. The bus that carried those whom I was so anxious to see and hold was stuck in traffic and wouldn’t arrive at the hotel for several more hours. It was torturous! Five hours later, the hotel doors opened, and one-by-one my friends filed in and raced to my open arms. Brittany and Mandy, Allison and Sarah Beth. Jamie, Will, AnnaLise, and Jenna. Maleah, Elise, and Mallory. Patterson, Lily, Madeline, and the list goes on. Finally, the last one through the door was the one my heart longed for the most. Jackson approached, dropped his bag, and I was pulled into the embrace that I had longed for everyday since June 3^rd. It was in that moment, surrounded by the people I love, healing began. It was in that moment, with a smile on my face and tears of joy sneaking down my cheeks, Jesus began to change my heart.

 

Patterson, Jackson, Mandy, Sarah Beth, Brittany, and me
before a concert in Gantry Park, Long Island City.

Jackson, Mandy, Jenna, AnnaLise, Sarah Beth, and me
before a concert in Union Square, Manhattan.

That week in New York, spreading the love of Jesus through cleaning parks, playing basketball with kids, painting fences and park benches, and leading worship in public places throughout the city, I learned something about God that I had forgotten. Through listening to people’s life stories, spending time with my friends in VG, and singing songs of praise to the One who holds my heart in His hands, I could no longer deny one simple truth that is seen over and over and over again throughout the Scriptures. Spending one single week in New York, fully relying on the Lord to carry me through the exhaustion that comes with mission work, the spiritual warfare that we experienced on a level never before seen on a VG mission trip, and the fear of goodbye that loomed at the end of the week, proved to change my heart and my life in ways I never could have hoped for. And all of this because of one simple truth that I had foolishly refused to believe::

God is good.

Even when I cannot see it and I don’t understand His plan, God is still good.

  

My ministry team in our super cool highlighter vests
getting ready to clean MacDonald Park in Forest Hills.

Three young boys who made us laugh as we
attempted to play basketball.

Worshipping Jesus in Union Square.

Luke, Avery, and me engaging in conversation
with this gentleman on the New York subway.

One of our devotions during the week was focused on trusting God’s timing. The student quoted Isaiah 55:9, which tells us that His ways are higher than our ways and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. She then went on to state that perhaps we could add “His timing is better than our timing,” quoting Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 where we find that there is a time for “every season under Heaven.” She closed the devotion with this::

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us not forget that He holds all time and He holds us. As you go into this day, remember His promises and ask Him to reveal Himself and His timing to you. Ask God to prepare your heart for Himself and to help you to trust Him in all situations and times.”

This devotion hit me hard. I felt as if it was written directly to me. It was a beautiful moment of conviction and realization that despite my circumstances, God was still good and He had not abandoned me. He has a plan for me, a reason for me spending my summer in a place that is not my home. I simply have to trust that Jesus will bring something good and beautiful from this broken heart of mine. This realization was only strengthened by subsequent devotions.

One of the other devotions expressed that “His ways are so much better for us than we can ever imagine or have planned for our lives… It’s all such a comforting thought to know that He is in control and He is sovereign even when we choose not to see it. It is mind blowing for me to see how great His faithfulness and how great His love is for us if we simply trust Him.” (Wait for it…conviction time!) “The moment we let go, when we let go of our selfish longings and our selfish yearnings for our lives, the moment we actually take a leap of faith, is the moment He catches us, how He welcomes us into His loving arms of mercy and love and grace and goodness. Just trust in HIM. He isn’t asking us to figure out our whole future. He already has it planned out perfectly in ways that we can never imagine. Trust that in His sovereignty and power and greatness that He is in control. That in His loving kindness, He has insanely wonderful, immense plans for your life… He only asks that you simply trust in HIM.”

That’s what I had done – I was guilty of choosing to blind myself to God’s sovereignty, His faithfulness, His love, and His goodness. I had clung so tightly to my “selfish longings and [my] selfish yearnings” for my life that I had chosen to push God’s open arms away in a foolish attempt to control my own life.

Finally, in the last devotion, the student reminded us of God’s encouragement to Paul in II Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

I was weak. I was utterly weak. I had tried so hard to fix myself, to carry my burdens on my own shoulders, that I had pushed myself to the breaking point. I needed peace, but not just any peace. I needed the peace that only my Jesus can offer.

I needed Jesus.

On July 4^th, at 12:30 A.M., I waved goodbye to my friends – my family – as they drove back home to North Carolina. With tears streaming down my face, I walked back into my hotel room, fully expecting to break down and sob for all I was saying goodbye to again until I fell asleep. But that didn’t happen. I didn’t cry myself to sleep that night. Instead, I was filled with an unexpected and unearthly peace. God was good. Even though I had struggled to see it, God was still good and He always would be.

 

Vertical Generation, you have forever changed my life.
Thank you.

Now I am back in Wisconsin. But since New York, I have begun to see God’s goodness expressed in each day. 

I see it in the beautiful Wisconsin sunsets that paint the sky an array of breathtaking colors each night. 

I see it in the variety of flowers that adorn the landscapes around this new city I am in. 

(P.S. Daisies are my favorite)

(Am I artsy yet??)

I see His goodness in the faces of those who worship the Lord through songs of praise each Sunday morning.

I see it in the handwritten letters from the people I am so homesick for.

And I see God’s goodness in the quiet moments spent with Him each night.

On June 3^rd, my family began a sixteen hour-long journey into a new season of our lives. A season marked by change – change of address, change of lifestyle, change of heart. I am well aware that I am far from the end of this season, but I now believe that God has a plan that is way more beautiful than any plan I could ever create for myself. And if it takes this season of change to get me there – to get me to the center of His will for me – then I will gladly face it, because I know that God is carrying me, and He has no intention of letting me go.

Because I know that God is good.