Crazy Life

Ok, so I am the absolute most random blog writer ever. I'm very inconsistent and what I write about has no rhyme or reason. I don't really even know why I decide to blog some things when generally journaling is my therapy of choice, but for some reason I feel that this is something to share with those of you who may or may not still read this :) For no particular reason at all, really :) That being said...
Have you ever stopped to think about how you've gotten where you are? Looked back at moments that may have seemed inconsequential at the time, or maybe seemed life shattering, but later, you realize the influence that moment had, in a good way? I've thought about that quite a lot lately.
When I look at where I am in life, what I've done, it doesn't seem like much, but I do feel 100% sure that I'm where God wants me right now. I'm 25, not married, not dating, living in Idaho. My life feels completely unimpressive. But then I look at my job. I'm so proud of what I do. It's a very small thing, but I love the people I get to work with. When someone asks me what I do, I get to say "Every day, I get to work with amazing people that have had to flee for their lives. I get to help them start a new life and find hope again." There are so many reasons I like my job. I love getting to meet people from all over the world. I love seeing the change when refugees stop feel like their life is crashing down around them, and realize they are starting to rebuild a new life. I love being in a little bubble of diversity when it seems so hard to find in Boise. And, this may be a selfish reason, but i do love how loved I feel by my clients. I love that they are so excited to see me (most of the time ;) ) and how appreciated they make me feel. Not all, but most. It amazes me that I can feel like I don't do enough and even if they nag and want more, so many of my clients bend over backward to make sure I know they appreciate what I'm doing. Oy, the amazing food I've been brought and all the hugs I get! :) Anyways, all this to say, I really do love my job and the direction my career is going.
The first event that i can think of that started me in this direction, was my family moving my sophomore year of high school. I was SO angry with my parents when they told us we were moving, but I remember them explaining that they knew it was God's will for our family. My dad had interviewed a year earlier for the job he was now being offered. The same day he was offered the job and asked to think about it, he was told that if he stayed at his current job, he would be teaching not only band, but also choir, which he'd done in the past and knew he never wanted to do it again. my mom was also told that due to budget cuts, she would likely not have a job with the school the following year. I remember being told these reasons and not caring. I didn't care what reasons my parents had for knowing God was directing them to move. All I knew was it was ruining my life. My friend Kristen and I devised a plan where I would hide out in her washing machine until my family moved. Of course they'd search and search for me, but they'd never check the washing machine. Needless to say, this plan was never even attempted. We moved. Now, how did this affect my future? Well, so many ways. I made new friends, for one. Who's to say if they did or did not influence my life decisions? I think they did. I'm not sure exactly how because I'm not sure how I would have been different had we stayed in Rupert. One direction I'm pretty sure would have been different had I stayed in Rupert is the college I would have chosen to attend. No one in Rupert went to NNU. I'm sure I would have gone to one of the state schools instead. Those are not bad alternatives, however, attending NNU was life altering in my case. When I went to enroll for classes at NNU, I wasn't sure what I would major in. I was considering Graphic Design but really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. When I was signing up for classes, the woman that was helping me asked if I'd looked at the International Studies major. When I said no, she said it looked like it would fit my interests, because all of the classes I had selected were required courses for that major. I looked through the description, read that a semester abroad was required, and it was decided, international studies it would be. I didn't know what I would do exactly. I had many ideas. I just knew it was the major I wanted. I wish I knew which employee it had been that said that one small thing to me. I really think God used her to help give me direction. I had always known I loved history and different cultures, but until I began my studies at NNU, I was so naive about so much. So much of what I am now so passionate about, I had no clue about before college. I don't remember how I first heard about World Relief, but one summer during college, they were hiring a receptionist. I called and called and called. They originally told me no because I would not be long term, due to college. But one day, they called me and said the position was still open if I wanted it. I had never experienced anything like it. I LOVED feeling like the world was being brought to me. The cultures, the colors, just all of it. It captivated me. They captivated me. My senior year, when it came time to pick a topic for my thesis, I wrote it on refugees (I won't go in to details). It's safe to say my interest had been peeked. And I just think, if I hadn't gone to NNU, I don't know if any of that would have happened. That's a long story, lots of parts skipped and forgotten, but the overall point being, I feel God directed me to this path from the time he re-directed my life to F-town. And that's just in one area of my life. So, like I said in the beginning, it's crazy to look back at your life and see that with one change, so much could be different. Who knows where I would be living, how I could be a different person with just one change. It's just crazy to think about.
So...this was long. Congrats if you made it through the whole thing. Sorry if you felt it unnecessarily long winded :) Not really sure if I think it still was blog worthy but what's done is done...almost