Friday, March 22, 2013

Funtastic Friend Friday: Anna Ayers

This girl and guest blogger will always be Baby Ayers to me. I have lots of "Anna"s in my life, so she has been termed by the affectionate name of Baby Ayers. She got placed on my Young Life team at the end of my sophomore year of college and since that day has held a very special place in my heart. We have this whole opposites attract thing down; I am very much type "A" and she is most certainly type "B", but it works, and the Lord has blessed our friendship in abundant ways. Anna loves pigs, loves to snowboard, loves a mix of indie and rap music, loves mustaches, and loves her friends (very well, I'll add)... and because of her I have developed a love (kinda) for some of those things too. She is truly a daughter of the King and she is daily reminding me of the Lord's love for me; I could not be more thankful for her. 





Anna's post is definitely revealing her heart and some of the most recent things going on in her life. I have loved being able to walk along side her as she has had to make summer decisions. I am thankful for Anna's faithful obedience to the Lord, even when it's not easy and when it doesn't make a lot of sense. 

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Just trust in the Lord. Lean on God and everything will be alright. Place your burdens on Him and rely on God for provision.

All of these sentences are lovely sentiments I have heard and said to friends more than a time or two. Trust and other fluffy words role off the tongue and are oh so easy to say. They are even pretty encouraging sometimes, BUT what happens when you are the one on the receiving end of statements like these? What happens when people are telling you to trust and all you want to do is grip tighter to whatever it is you’re holding on to? What happens when trusting is the last thing you want to do?

This summer I was given the opportunity to work at two amazing camps: JH Ranch in California and Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado. Both camps are beautiful places; both camps would take me outside of my comfort zone; but most importantly, both camps are dedicated to the mission of God and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, with all of these similarities there is one crucial difference between the two camps…money. To put it plain and simply Lost Valley is paid, JH is not.

I would love to sit here and say that I am a person who doesn’t care about money, who isn’t worried about finances and saving, but to say that would be a lie…So while God repeatedly put working at JH on my heart, I repeatedly ignored Him. On the outside I would say things like

I know that the Lord will put me where He wants me,

but behind that prayer I was thinking

I know Lord, you’ll put me where you want me, and I’m so glad you want to give me a job where I get paid…. Where I am already kind of leaning towards…. Thanks Lord!

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) like most fights I pick with God, He always wins out, always besting me for the better.

He wants me at JH, it’s plain and simple. I have been fighting and not trusting Him, but this is where He wants me.

In two months I will be in Northern California, in an unpaid job with no one I know, and completely out of my comfort zone. Am I positive that the Lord will provide? Honestly, I don’t know. But what I do know is that He has always provided for me in the past—so I am doing it, I’m taking this leap of faith, this dive into the unknown, and I am trying to trust God the best that I can.

Will it be the easiest way? Not at all, but what part of our journey with God ever is?  He doesn’t promise comfort, but he does promise that if we trust him, we’ll find ourselves in a place maybe far different than we could have planned, far greater than we could have hoped or imagined.

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” -Psalm 143: 8




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