One year ago today I took a step of faith. I started my job at CRISTA, I stepped into the unknown. I knew I had an end date at camp. I knew I wouldn't stay there forever. I knew my next step had to be more. I had to leap.
This next story starts back in summer 2012. I was High School staff at Island Lake, a program basically like a youth group, all day long, all week long at camp. That summer I had a pretty amazing team with me, and I had wonderful leaders. One of my youth leaders (who shall remain nameless) that year became a pretty good mentor, and someone I now consider a friend. That leader, after summer, moved on and got another job. I didn't hear from him for some time, until August 2015.
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August 2015. It was the end of summer, I was exhausted. I received a call at the end of the week, who was it? My HS (High school) leader from 2012! He was calling to catch up, get to know how my internship was going, asked me where I thought I was going next. I should have seen it back then. A blessing the Lord was putting right in front of me!
Here I was, reverting to my old habits again. My friend told me of an amazing opportunity, I turned it down. I used the excuse that I wasn't a quitter (I wasn't, and I'm still not), I wouldn't just leave my internship. I knew what I was doing. I prayed about it, but I thought, "Nah, That's not for me, right Lord?". Even though I was asking the Lord if this was for me, I was also telling Him I wasn't doing it.
August wasn't the only time my friend contacted me. He contacted me in October, November, December. Now, He wasn't offering me a job, he was telling me of an opportunity, to pray about it. And did I? No. I was doing it again, I was telling the Lord where I didn't want to go, I was telling Him my plan was better. My friends agenda wasn't just to talk about that, in fact, he stopped telling me about it in December. And after that his goal was basically to encourage me to just seek the Lord in my next step in life.
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'So what is my next step?' I asked myself. I give no other explanation other than it was the Lord putting it on my heart, but boy did I find any excuse to say it wasn't. I started thinking about my options a lot. It's funny how the Lord works sometimes. A few years ago I remember telling my dad I was done with camp, all of them, it just wasn't for me. Then there I was a year later, near the end of my internship, at camp, thinking on applying to another camp.
Okay, it was time for some serious prayer time, direct, no distractions. You see, I had been praying all along, but I realize now how selfish it was. My prayers were not sincerely asking the Lord His plan. I was asking the Lord for something I wanted, I wanted something planted right in front of me.
To help me focus on my prayer I decided I would take 3-4 days of silence. And if you know me, you know I'm not quiet, it was a tough week (I'll blog about it another time). And here is where the story speeds up. My fasting started on Monday January 11th, my plan was to fast until January 15th, that didn't happen. On Wednesday night (Jan, 13) I was about to go to sleep and my roomate(who didn't even know what I was fasting and praying about) gave me a nice pep talk. While I was praying that night I told the Lord that if He wanted me to apply for this job, I would pray that night until He let me fall asleep. I didn't fall asleep until 3am. When I woke up Thursday morning I kept thinking,'I have never asked for a sign, but Lord, if I'm going to do this, I'm asking you give me something that plainly says which way you want me to go.'
My coworker (who also didn't know why I was fasting) and I were carpooling on our way to our assigned camp that weekend, and she gave me the same pep talk! So I thought to myself 'Okay, I'll tell my folks tonight, and if they like the idea, I'll apply.' Funny thing is, I thought I was 100% sure they wouldn't like the idea.What I was about to apply for was not just a step, but that leap I was talking about.
So there I was, Thursday night, January 14th. I told my parents about this wonderful camp in California. I told them everything I knew about it (which wasn't much at the time). You know what, I was right. My folks didn't like the idea, they loved it. The more I talked to them about it, I knew this was the next place for me. I decided I was applying right then and there, or I would change my mind.
Friday morning, January 15th. I realized there were a few things that needed to happen first, if I got the job. My internship ended in March, and I applied for a June/July start date. I needed a part time job. No joke, I was cooking my breakfast, and someone called me and offered my a part-time nanny job April-June. Wow! Okay, so if the night before wasn't an answer to my prayers, than this sure was.
I was interviewed Thursday, January 21st. And was hired at Palomar Christian Conference Center
In California Thursday, February 4th (my birthday!). All of this happened in 3 weeks. It's crazy what happened to me when I actually gave it to the Lord.
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I suppose this is me telling you a few things.
1. I'm moving to California, but so far, only for the summer.
2. I guess camp Ministry really is my thing after all.
-Danielle
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