The Beginning of Change

I decided to start this blog recounting that monumental first year after high school which transformed my life.

Growing up in an analytical family, I spent a considerable amount of time planning out my life leaving little room for spontaneity or last minute decisions. Since middle school I always knew that I would attend UNC-Chapel Hill to study medicine. Thus my senior year of high school, I wasted very little time pondering my college destination. Funny thing is that I never even stepped foot on UNC’s campus until the day I received my acceptance letter.

That first semester at UNC-CH I found that my faith was definitely challenged being in an environment with so many differing views, lifestyles, beliefs, and perspectives. I spent a lot of time contemplating life and my beliefs that semester.

Over Christmas break I flew out to Kansas City, MO for the One Thing Conference. During this time, I prayed and believed God called me to stay in Kansas City, MO to be part of a six-month young adult internship. At that time in my life, I needed to focus on seeking out the truth and building a strong foundation for my beliefs.

Before I returned home from Kansas City, I had already applied and been accepted into the internship which started in a mere few days. I only had two problems…my next semester of school started in five days with everyone expecting me to return to UNC. Second, I needed to come up with $3000 beforehand to pay for my lodging and other expenses related to the internship.

The night I returned home, I eagerly told my parents about my prayerful consideration to drop out of school and move to Kansas City for this internship. They were shocked, needless to say, especially being planners like myself. Thankfully they prayed with me about the decision. My parents said that I could go to Kansas City if the money they had paid for the upcoming semester would be refunded and if the $3000 was provided without them having to pay for it.

This seemed very unlikely since classes now started in two days and few people knew about my financial need let alone my desire to go to this internship.  Well, let’s just say that in less than a week I had dropped out of college, moved out of my dorm room, and boarded a plane back to Kansas City to spend the next six months seeking God at the International House of Prayer. God provided in a miraculous way. My parents received a full refund from UNC, and an anonymous donor paid for my internship (I still do not know who or how to this day). This is my testimony. God is Jehovah Jireh...“The Lord will provide.”

This began the journey that over the next few years would take me to several different cities, another college, a different country, and well a lot of spontaneity in my otherwise planned out life.