It all started when I was at work in Exam Accommodations. My job entails setting up tests for people who have learning disabilities, trouble taking tests, etc. Well, I was sitting at my desk listening to some worship music on my Pandora radio. It was a particularily slow day so I was just sort of absorbing the music when missions came to mind. Now, I've never been felt led to do missions before or anything of the sort, so it was really out of the blue, but I took it to heart. I grabbed a sticky note and wrote "MISSIONS" in all caps at the top of it and stuck it to the desk. I decided to just pray and meditate on that when suddenly thoughts of "Greece" popped into my thoughts. Now, keep in mind I know of about three Greek people, I don't speak Greek, and at that point in time I couldn't even locate Greece on a map if you wanted me to. I began to pray on this too when about ten minutes later a student walked in and said, "I'm here to take my Greek 101 exam." It had just turned into one of those, "What? Could you repeat that?" moments. As you can imagine I'm thinking this is so bizarre and later that night after work I called my Mom to tell her my story. She was very encouraging and said, "Well, if God really wants you to go somewhere He will give you the signs to point you in the direction you're supposed to go." I agreed. She then asked me what Salt was about. (Salt is one of the Christian college ministries at Iowa State University) Normally I don't know what the message is about but my friend Katie's boyfriend Zach was playing in the band for the first night and he had told us a few days prior what the topic was. I had forgotten until my Mom had brought up the topic, I stopped for a moment and replied to my mom, "Mom, it's Nations night, it's all about missions!" She said, "Well, I guess you're going to go learn something, huh?" and learn I did. That night I was in total awe before God, tears streaming down my face, wanting to go wherever he wanted to send me and I thought it was Greece. The next day I started researching missions trips to Greece (both of the churches I attend were going to places like Africa, China and Turkey), I couldn't find any - most were trips to the Holy Lands, but no specific missions trips. I didn't get discouraged but I just sort of put it to the back of my mind.
In the meantime, I started researching National Student Exchange. I've always wanted to study abroad somewhere and NSE looked like the perfect opportunity. God had also placed Georgia on my heart, I feel like it's the state I'm supposed to reside in after I graduate college, specifically Savannah, but I've never been there. So I figured, since I've never been to Georgia I might as well see if I can study on exchange there. So I began to research and the only school that participates in exchange is the University of Georgia. So I click and check to see if they have my major and they did! I'm an apparel merchandising major so that's not super common in most state schools. I was excited at that point, but I knew I needed some back up schools so I started looking in warm places like Texas and California. I couldn't really find any schools there that interested me and only one had my major, so I decided to go back to mess around on the University of Georgia website. I'm looking at the textiles section and then I found the location. I almost fell out of my chair when I reazlied UGA is in ATHENS, Georgia! That was when it clicked and I'm thinking, You have got to be kidding me.
Right away I started the application process for National Student Exchange and found out that I needed a $225 dollar down fee. Now, remember that I am a poor college student and the sum of that money is two paychecks without buying anything else...pretty impossible to come up with that amount in a quick time. So I started praying, if God really wants me to go He will provide me with enough money to go on the trip. So I waited. In the meantime I walk into a class after coming back from Christmas break to hear that one of my teachers went to University of Georgia and studied there. It just kept coming at me from all sides! I got to talk to her about Athens which psyched me up more. In the meantime I continued to work on my application.
A few weeks ago my Dad called me to ask how much I paid for my books because he was working on taxes. I found the information and gave it to him and then asked him, "Hey, do you need how much I tithed?" He said that he didn't need that yet, but after I got off the phone with him I added it up. I couldn't believe it when I saw the amount...$225.16. There was the amount, again! I knew I wouldn't get all the money back, but it was crazy to see $225 staring back at me. Soon after the money was provided for me, although not in the way I expected! I was about to drive back to school (I had been home due to illness) when I got rear-ended not even out of my own neighborhood. When I got the insurance money $1,100, it was more than enough to cover the cost of my bumper AND pay for the down payment of my exchange. Crazy, right? Well, it keeps going.
When I got to the NSE office to turn in all of my paperwork and payment, Debra, the NSE coordinator looked through my forms and said, "You want to go to Georgia?" I said, "Yes." and she said, "Do you have a second choice?" My eyes widened. "No, should I?" She replied, "Georgia is one of the hardest places to get into." She basically told me it was impossible to get in. In the back of my head I'm thinking, I am supposed to go to UGA for a reason, and one reason only, to follow God's calling. At this point I was nervous, but decided that if God really wanted me there He would make it happen, and if He didn't, then it wouldn't be the right time. Debra told me that I would know within the next week where I would be headed and said, "I can definitely get you into Texas State" (this was the second choice we finally agreed on) but I knew Texas State was not where I belonged.
It was Thursday night (funny how a lot of these things happened on Thursdays now that I think about it) I had come back from dinner and decided to quickly check my e-mail and there it was, "Congratulations, you've been accepted to your first choice in NSE." I was so excited (and still am!) I can't believe it even now, but I knew God could do it and would do it if it was His will. I'm not completely sure what I'll be doing when I get there, but I continue to pray for His guidance. I feel like God will point me in the direction that I need to go when I get there. That night I got to worship God and we sang two of my most favorite worship songs at Salt Company. It could feel his presence and it was amazing. I pray that He will continue to lead me in the way I should go. I'm excited for the journey.
