Unexpected Summer

What has this summer held for you? Has it held moments of exhilarating highs, or did it hold unbelievable lows? Were you challenged beyond belief, or were you able to relax? Well, I must say that I was challenged. Challenged in many ways. I saw God using my co-workers to bring out the worse in me as well as tears of laughter. 

At the beginning of the summer my boss asked me to write down three goals for the summer that I could be held accountable for. However, I was not anticipating my co-workers to challenge me beyond what I wrote. One of the biggest challenges came when one of my co-workers had a dream that involved me on the ropes course. She began yelling at me while I was at the top of the pole setting up the element because I wasn’t connected to the lifeline that was above me. She was constantly yelling, “Victoria! You aren’t connected to the lifeline!!! You need to hook yourself to the lifeline!” Now, when she told me this dream at breakfast the next morning I just kinda laughed it off and said, “Why would I do that? I’m not that stupid.” However, that wasn’t what my other co-workers thought. About two days later one of my other co-workers who overheard the conversation came to me to talk about the dream. She asked me if I had thought anything more of the dream, and I told her no. She showed concern and said that her and another co-worker were talking about it and felt that God was trying to show me that I wasn’t connected to him in the way that I should be. To hand over everything to him and really dig deep into His Word to find out more about who our Heavenly Father says he is. I honestly didn’t know what to think of that. I chewed on that information for a few days and tried to pay more attention to my relationship with God. Sure, I was listening to Christian music and reading christian fiction, but how much time was I spending in the Word? In fact, when they spoke to me about the lifeline dream I thought it was ironic because I had written down as one of my goals to spend more time with God on a daily basis for the summer. God showed me that I indeed needed to be spending more time in His Word verses the other things I do. I have to build my faith in who he is, and what he has done for me. Now, two months later, I have read through the first half of the Book of John, as well as many other passages, and have been catching things I hadn’t caught before. I also have felt my heart being refreshed with old familiarity as I read over stories that I have heard for years. It has been so interesting and eye opening in many ways. No, I haven’t been able to have devotional every day due to different circumstances, but I have been reading a lot more then I did during the school year. It is amazing how God can bring people into your life, even if it’s only for a season, for a specific purpose. These girls I work with have come into my life for many reasons, and I have learned a lot from who they are as people as well as their own personal relationships with God. I am eternally grateful that my co-workers, plus my boss, has pushed me to better my relationship with Christ. It has most definitely been a summer of having to learn to rely on His strength more than my own strength. 

So I would like to raise the question again of: How were you challenged the summer? Who was it that challenged you? Have you asked God why that thing happened to you? God has a reason, He knows what we need at just the right times in our lives. So I want to ask you to think about the person or time that really challenged you this summer, good or bad, and spend some time reflecting on it. Take time to gain a better understanding of that circumstance. Then put into practice what you learned. It is never enough to just to know of the circumstance when you know that there is something more that you can do. Follow through with what God has shown you, and allow him to take you on the crazy rollercoaster that He has placed in front of you. You may not know now what the reason for what happened, happened, but rest assure in Gods plan for your life, and what he has for your future. Besides He already knows where you will end up.