My cup runneth over ...

This entry is entirely irrelevant to the theme of my blog. Heads up. I wanted to share with you about something special that happened to me today. As most of you know, I work for AT&T in Tuscaloosa. Now, it's DAILY that we meet a few characters ... but RARE that people make an impact that evokes an emotion like this one did. I feel like this guy was sent from God, directly to my store, directly to me, directed to bring me a hope that transcends anything I could have ever imagined.

Tonight, a guy named Russ Warren (you might know him from Warren Tire) came into my store to get his phone activated. He started telling me about his new wife and how they were waiting to get her phone and how they were moving and all sorts of things. Now ... I tend to get off topic in conversations and end up talking forever about things that had nothing to do with the original conversation, so you can imagine how this conversation went (LENGTHY.) Anyways, as he continued, he told me all about he and his brand new (beautiful) wife and all about their story and about how they had met and fallen in love. It isn't often that you hear awesome stories from the guy about his love story. Nonetheless ... I kept listening ... completely enamored by this guys love for his wife and for their future. Once we had been talking for a while he introduced me to the video of his proposal to her and to his blog where I found TONS of motivational things. Now, he doesn't know this, but I make it a point to send out motivational emails to my co-workers in Tuscaloosa just because I feel like motivation is SO important to sales (and life ...) and the VERY same videos that he had on his website were the ones that I had sent out in my emails. 

As he continued to tell me his story, I learned that he does motivational speeches to youth groups and works a lot with kids around town and that he and his wife had planned to start doing conferences with youth after graduation from UA. He told me about his ministry that he had started at Valley View (the church I go to now) for young people called "3:20." He had named the ministry "3:20" after Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him who is able to do imeasurably more than all our desires or thoughts, through the power which is working in us." He said he has people ask all the time, "What does 3:20 even mean?" and through that he is able to share his witness. How cool? What's even cooler is that the reason that we named our business "Forty31" is that our life verse is Isaiah 40:31 and our intent was to share our witness through that!

The more we sat there and talked to more peace and direction I got from the Lord about where my life is right now and about the future that He has planned for me. It's easy as a 25 year old woman in the south to get all caught up in the hustle and bustle of what you're supposed to do as a 25 year old southern woman. Get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids. That's what I'm supposed to be doing right now, right? Well ... none of those things are happening for me right now and it's tough. It's tough to watch everyone's success and feel like a failure even though I have a great job and a great relationship with my family and friends. Please understand that this isn't jealousy that I feel. It's more like a stagnancy that I can't conquer and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY. It's very easy to feel like you're letting everyone down by society's standards and to feel a weight on your shoulders heavy enough to cripple you and your state of mind. Some friends of mine that are at similar points in their lives joke that we are going through a quarter life crisis. Living in a college town as a single 25-er is tough. I don't bar hop. I don't make habits of attending house parties. I don't have a group at church that I'm plugged into (not because of a lack of effort by several precious girls at Valley View who have repeatedly invited me to their bible study,) mostly just because I don't plan on forever being in Tuscaloosa and I'd rather not get close to a group of people just to have to leave them. I know that's silly. I've accepted that I'm being ridiculous. I'll go when I'm ready.

I'm just ready to take a step towards something. I feel like Forty31 has given me a sense of prosperity and independance and confidence that i hadn't known before. If you have NO clue what Forty31 is, the last post will tell you all about it. The message that the Lord gave me the other night through Russ gave me a peace that I can't adequately describe. A sweet friend at work preaches to me lots about being content in your place in life and being content in the promise that God has plans to prosper us in HIS time. Thanks Cristen for being the messanger God had you to be in that moment. I listened... even though it might not have seemed like it.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Long story short, something about the message that the Lord gave me through this messanger gave me a peace that I've been needing for a while. It also made me revisit my life verse. You know, the verse I'm supposed to be witnessing about through my business.
***Side note: I've been told repeatedly by a manager that I had the pleasure of working for for a few months earlier this year that i shouldn't "preach it" if I'm not going to "practice it." I kindof thought he was full of it until recently when I did a bit of soul searching and realized he was right. As much as it pains me to admit it, Saed, you were 100% correct. Maybe it's been more of an effort to motivate myself and not just others? Whatever the case may be, I refuse to let that effort be in vain. ***

"but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint."

-Isaiah 40:31

It's been so clear all along but I refused to see it.

Trust in God.

Trust fully in His timing.

Wait for Him.

When you're called, go.

And for the love of all that is Holy, don't get so frustrated and over run with life and the selfish desires of your heart that you can't see clearly that the Lord has a clear and PERFECT plan for your life.

Your job is to be patient and obey.