Every January 4, since 2006, I distinctly remember how the Lord directed me through His Spirit, and I've always remembered how important it is to wait on the Lord. From Dec 31 2005 until January 6, 2006, I was in Detroit, Michigan for a job opportunity. They had promised to provide me with visa sponsorship, they promised training and all I would have to do was work with them for one year. I thought it was too good to be true, I had heard it before; but at that time, I was pretty desperate and had nothing to lose...or so I thought.
I was blessed to get a ride to Michigan from Chatannooga, TN where General Youth Congress was held that year. I don't remember the dear sister's name, but I know that without her, I would have been so lost and spiritually sunk. She provided me with transport, food and encouragement when it became clear that the opportunity I was seeking was definately something fishy. That happened when I arrived at the apartment I was supposed to stay at, and found it to be bare of furniture, smelling of mould, and having signs of occupation but no-one else living there. Another guy arrived just after me, he didn't know what was going on either.
The first few days of my stay, I went to the workplace with the other guy and pretty much spent all day on the computer waiting for something to happen...nothing did. I felt that I had made a mistake in coming, but I couldn't bail out yet, what if I was wrong? What else was I to do? There were other people there as well, all of us were just sitting down waiting to hear what we should do, and the persons in charge weren't really speaking to us.
On January 4, 2006, I read a devotional from "My Utmost for His Highest" which spoke about waiting on God to show you what you need to do. Even if you have a clear impression on what you must do/need to do, wait for God to make it plain, rather than jumping the gun. That devotional had a major impact on my thinking, and it gave me peace of mind for the remainder of my stay. I waited, and I'm glad I did. On Thursday January 8, we got the details of what we would be expected to do, and it became clear that one of those details was for us to lie on our resumes about our years of experience so that we would be able to work for the companies that would be hiring us. That was all the incentive I needed to be back on a bus to Maryland that same weekend, and that led me to come back home and to everything that has happened in my life since.
I don't know what would have happened to me if I stayed, and I wonder at times what happened to the people who were in the program with me, whether they stayed, and how things ended up for them. Nonetheless, as I am here five years later to the day, making major changes in my life already in 2011, I'm thinking about that same devotional and wondering what I need to do in this coming month, these coming weeks, this coming year. I've made bold steps, waiting until I felt that it was time to move, feeling that if I lingered I would be in problems. Other moves, I know I have to make them but I am not sure when the time to make them would be. In all of this, I draw on the experience that God gave me, in telling me to wait on Him. He will show us when the time to act will be, if we simply put all our trust in Him.
So as I continue on to make changes in life for 2011, I pray that I will wait for God to show me when to make the moves, and what moves to make. I hope you do the same.
