Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Two years ago I was doing an internship in Mobile, Alabama.

Last summer, I was a summer missionary with NAMB in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

This summer?

Resting, relaxing, and spending time with friends. 

Oh, and there is work. 

This summer I am graduated, done with classes, and not out in the mission field. 

(Well, besides Tuscaloosa being my summer mission field, I mean me not out in another state or city.) 

The only things I have done have been spending time with friends, going to the lake, sleeping, reading, watching Netflix, sleeping, working out (another post for another time), and working 3 hours a day at my part-time job. 

Seeing as I'm a big advocate for using my summers for the Lord, it is weird not being anywhere doing that. 

However, I really feel like this moratorium is going to be good for me. 

When graduation first ended, I really didn't know what I was going to do with myself. I hadn't planned on going anywhere and I didn't feel the Lord calling me to go anywhere. I just took it a day at a time. 

Then, a few days after graduation, I just became tired. All of a sudden it seemed like the past five years caught up with me and I just became overwhelmed with this feeling of tiredness, both physically and spiritually. 

A lot has happened to me during my five years in college. 

New friends. Classes. Tests and Finals. Mission Trips. New Church. Bible Study. Work. No Work. Changing Majors. Summer Internships. Weddings. Birthdays. Car Wreck. Fights. Lost Friendships. Restored Friendships. Late Nights. Tornado. Summer Missionary Job. Road Trips. 

More School. More Work. 

Graduation. 

So when friends and family asked me what I was going to do now that I was graduated and I answered with "sleep", I really was not kidding. 

The weight of five years was lifted and I just collapsed. 

I loved college. Absolutely LOVED it. These past five years were definitely the best years I have had so far and contain memories that I will always remember and treasure! 

I want this summer to be a continuation of that and I want to keep adding to that memory box, but I also want this summer to be about the Lord restoring me. I want to rest in the Lord and seek Him daily as He leads me on the next step in my journey. I learned so much in college and now I want to reflect on the things I learned and apply them more than ever. Now is the time that I need this wisdom the most! Life is going to change so very drastically in the "real" world and coming years. 

It's both thrilling and scary at the same time. For as much as I want to know the future and what is going to happen, I know there is no way for me to know. All I can do is wait and trust in the Lord as He reveals His plan to me. As hard as it is some days, I am more than willing to just wait right now. 

There are days when I terribly miss NOLA and Mobile and the people and kids that I met in those places, but I very thankful for the time that I had with them and the things that the Lord showed and taught me there.  Those places ministered and blessed me in more ways than I could have ever done for them. 

I am very thankful to the Lord for that. That He saw it as good to have me there. 

I am also thankful for this "free" time that I have. Knowing that the Lord has planned to keep me here in Tuscaloosa this summer is exciting in its own way. I am thankful for the next two months that I get to be with my church family here, because I know that I am not done learning from them.  I feel the Lord has something good planned. I feel He knows that I need these next two months to prepare for the months that come after. 

Because starting August, the "free" time is over. 

A new journey is starting. 

A journey that definitely takes me far from Alabama, farther than I have been before.

(Still in the United States though.) 

Stay tuned, because I'm excited to see what the Lord is going to do

and I can't wait to share with you guys. 

:-)