Posts tagged change

Many of you would say that I had it going on.  I had a job of my dreams, doing what I loved, making money, great car, and great support from friends and family.  I’ve always had a positive outlook to life and I shared when I was feeling happy on facebook.  You might be wondering why I sold my car and quit my job to pursue Discipleship training; I was on my way to having the American dream and only in my late 20’s. 

Jesus happened, I found him (or really, he just made me realize that he was with me this entire time).  Just a bit of background for some of you that don’t know me on a very personal level, I was born and raised Catholic but eventually I became Agnostic in college.  Agnostic meaning, I knew there was a God; I just didn’t know which one.  I went further to reveal, if God gave us free-will then why are we mandated to follow practices in order to go to heaven—there are SO many people that don’t do those things.  So I lived my way as moral as I can and just hoped when I die, that whoever was up there would let me stay up there instead of making me go down there. 

I was saved in April 2010, after which I would check out church events when I could.  I yearned to be more involved but I did not have the availability due to my job as assistant manager.   One of the events that I went to was the ASK event where I met a girl named Jenn Chen and she told me about IMPACT 195.  She planted a seed but I was like… NO WAY!  Way over my head, it sounded good but I can’t do that—I had a career.  I did, however, promise to check out Impact 195 by going to The Rock the House Event and I don’t back down on promises, regardless if I would never see her again.  Impact was way over my head but I thought the work they did was commendable, something I would want to do in the future perhaps.  A few months later Jenn Chen received Rock Hero of the month, and I encourage you to view the video (http://www.sdrock.com/stories/rockhero_jennchen).   Anyway, I prayed and asked Him how I can make it work and He answered by promoting me to restaurant manager.  It allowed me to have a little bit more control on my work schedule; I was able to get Sundays off and Thursdays in order to join the choir at The Rock. 

I did very well as Restaurant Manager, broke record sales, employees were happy, bosses were happy, my “partners in crime” were happy.  It was great!  I loved it.  I got really busy and I only had time to continue in the choir.  During the 3rd quarter of the year, I was excited for the next year!  Imagine how successful the restaurant would be now that my partners and me got a year under our belt—it’s going to be awesome!  But that wasn’t God’s plan and He made sure I knew it.  To make a long story short I was in the fish belly like Jonah (read the story of Jonah found in the bible, it’s only 4 chapters long and it’s very amusing).  I’m not saying I had it as bad as Jonah; it just so happened that when all the stuff was happening at work, Pastor Miles mentioned Jonah.            

I continued to pray and I obeyed God with what He was telling me to do.  I sold my mini cooper and bought the fiat—it was almost $300 cheaper a month, saved almost $80/month on gas.  This allowed me to pay bills and save money.  And now here I am, First Term Student at Impact 195.  All the hard work, training, and certification from Restaurant Managing is out the door, all of the things that I was proud of, was out the door—meaning my identity is out the door.           

I’m still the same Amii.  I love to go dancing, (yes, that means I go clubbing).  I still love to drink wine or beer with my food.  I still love snowboarding.          

But I have no idea what I’m doing, where I’m going and how I’m going to pay to get there.  I do know that I have HOPE and I have GOD.  He provides and will direct me to where I should go.  There WILL be times when I will not listen, that definitely will happen.  There WILL be times when I will fall (yup, that will happen a lot).  There WILL be times when I am feeling high off of His love.  It’s been about 1 month since I quit my job and started Impact and almost everyday there has been an “AHHAAA!”, “O-M-G”, “THAT’S AMAZING” moment and I would love to share all of that with you.  But this is facebook and I will not force anything on you (including the reading of my life).  SO… I have opened a Twitter account.  You’re my friends and not my followers but if you want to see how God has made changes in my life then feel free to follow me at https://twitter.com/#!/Mii_Racquel.           

Lastly, I am a Child of God.  There are a lot of stereotypes to the image of a missionary.  I am not perfect, I will never be perfect.  I will always be a sinner.  I will not judge you or try to change you, that’s God’s work, not mine.  I will never look down upon you.  If you want to talk or if you need prayer, message, text, call, FB or tweet me—doors open. 

Love Always,

Amii