New Journeys, New Paths!

I felt like just sharing a little bit of what is going on in the mind and heart of myself, Caleb Davis, while serving in Africa. As you all know I am currently living in Mozambique, Africa, after hearing the call of the Lord to do missions in this season of my life. As the days go on, my time here is dwindling down; I have only four more weeks here on the iris base, then one week of debrief with my team! There is a happy, yet sad feeling that sets in when the reality hits that we are almost finished with our DTS. A happy feeling of returning to friends and family, and the civilization that I was so comfortable with prior to my arrival in Africa and yet a sad feeling of the relationships I have made here with the boys of the base are about to come to an end, until I return back to visit in the years to come. There is also a uncertainty that sets in as well due to not knowing exactly what the Lord has planned for my next season. The lord has really been working on my heart the past week ish of being here. I have had some trials that have occurred, and some stretching that is taking place. At first I was confused and a little bit upset on how the Lord would allow such things to happen while I am serving for His glory. It seemed so unfair. After a couple days of just wrestling with the Lord, and partially pushing all my emotions down to just get through the day, I was having a real trouble sleeping. It is easy to keep your mind off specific things when I was distracted with the busyness of the day, but as soon as the night fell and I laid in bed, my mind would go racing. I would feel anxious about my future, and the next steps I will take after I get done with DTS, and feelings of wanting to just go home now because I wanted to be with people that I typically confide in with my problems. After several nights of this wrestle the Lord really hit me on revelation on how much he is really in control and that I am being stretched, but for my good in the long run. I mean think about it this way, when we were in our teenage years growing. We had growing pains, when our body stretched longer and bigger, it typically hurt our joints, yeah? Same thing with our emotional stretch, it is crazy how the Lord shows us this metaphor. He also really highlighted that I am a person that typically runs to others for their input on what I should do with my problems, life, or situations. I have been wondering to myself, Lord, why am I the only guy student on my outreach team. He really is showing me that I need to just confide in Him and Him alone, and that I need not to lean on others, but fully on Him. I feel like this and many other reasons the Lord has me placed so far away from everything I am comfortable with. I have also come to realize that I need to thank the Lord for my struggles, because that is when I am growing. Yeah it is so easy to think, Lord where are you?! Why are you letting this happen, but in reality His thumb print is among all of it, we are just so blind to it from us just looking at ourselves and others instead of our Creator, the One who knows us best, and has our best intentions. This is not just something for me but I feel the Lord is telling me to share this with you, because you don’t have to be in Africa to struggle, there are so many things back at home, where all of you are at, that you struggle with. And just to let you know, it is OK to struggle, just know the Lord is trying to show you something out of it. Don’t be to quick to blame the one who knows how to get your attention. Think about it this way. The way we communicate with the Lord is through prayer yeah?! Is It weird to think that He might throw some curve balls into our lives to get our attention to get back in prayer to Him?! I personally think He is bigger than that?! Do you? So my challenge to you all, next time some thing goes all crazy, ask the Lord, God what are you trying to show me or highlight to me, instead of being like GOD WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME IN THE DARK! He loves you, He has your best intention. Why?! Because He is a good DAD, who disciplines His children because He loves them!! I also would love to hear your input whether it is encouragement, prayer, or even if you disagree. I would love to pray for you as well. My email is cjdavis17@hotmail.com or you can send me a private message on facebook! If the Lord puts something on your heart, please I would love to hear it! I want to grow more, I also want to help out my brothers and sisters in the faith, whether old or young!

Last week Thursday, our team another ywam team from Sweden and fellow visitors here at iris, jumped into the back of a huge truck with interpreters, tents and food for a couple days and we made our way to the BUSH BUSH! YES, finally our team was about to embark on the trip we have been waiting ever so patiently for. We left with only 8 of our team because some felt God told them to stay back and intercede and another just wasn’t feeling up to par to go so Breno, Nari, and Tonisha stayed back. Great, I thought to myself, now I have to keep both my eyes now on our girls because I was the only guy now but not to worry we all made back safe and sound!

 Anyways, we drove for around half an hour on the high way south of Pemba then about thirty-five mins west on the bumpiest dirt road I have ever been on in my life. I was glad to have had a trampoline as a kid, and with it played the game where you get in the fetal position and try and “break the egg,” it was great practice for riding in the back of the truck, I literally got air, a couple times from the bumps in the road!

When we arrived at “the church” in the remote village, we unpacked everything and set up our tents. It was a glorious site! Besides the fact that we were the only people with tents in the village we were the only white people as well, so naturally the entire village came to see what we were doing. I have never had such a big crowd watch my every move as I experienced there in the village. Everything from pitching the tent, to eating, drinking, changing, and going the restroom, there is no such thing as privacy here in Africa. Even though that may seem overwhelming, God sure gave us grace and peace about all that was happening.

After getting the tents set up we split up in three groups with a translator in each group and everyone got bibles to hand out. Yes, we were going to make a sweep through the village to distribute bibles, and invite the villagers to come to the church that night to listen to a message and testimonies, watch dramas and the Jesus film. As we started our walk down the road in my group, we had around twenty children follow us initially as we started handing the bibles out, but as we kept down the road, the more children we seemed to attract. We in the group joked that it felt like we were famous!

 We came up to this house with this old lady sitting on her porch just gazing out in the street at us. Delaney a fellow girl on my team from Kona, asked me to walk up with her and hand a bible to her and invite her to the church. We grabbed our translator Paulo, and walked up to the lady, which was a harder task than imagined. The kids like surrounded her and made it impossible to even get close. When we made our way to her finally, we realized that she had no life in her eyes, they were all cloudy. She appeared to be around eighty years old and just lifeless when we asked her if she wanted a bible and any prayer. She surprisingly said she would like some prayer. So Delaney and I, laid hands on her and just prayed for her in general, just a blessing over her life. Paulo then asked her if she had anything specific we could pray for. She said her hips and her eyes. By now a couple more of the missionaries joined us for prayer. We prayed over her and she stood up and started walking around. Then she exclaimed that her pain went from her hips to her feet. “This normally is a good sign that Jesus is showing His love for her and is going to heal her. My faith rose up inside of my soul and I started pouring out some crazy prayers that were totally spirit lead. After we prayed some more she really was walking around and said before we came and for a long time in her life she has walked with a bad limp and was not able to go far from her house. We prayed once more for God’s healing hand to show up and heal her eyes. To our astonishment, HE DID! Jesus healed this lady’s eyes. They were still cloudy, but she told us that before we came she could only see shadows and now she can see our faces. After that prayer, her face seemed to light up and Joy swept over her body, you could tell that her being able to see again properly was the key to bringing life back to her face. Not only was this miracle nice, it was Jesus showing His love for this lady, that He loved her so much He wanted her to be healed and feel no pain! CAN I GET AN AMEN! PRAISE JESUS!

Now I could end here, but that just wouldn’t be fair to you all to know the stuff that comes next. So we get back to the church, and set up the projectors and begin the dramas and preaching part of the night. We started off by stating our names in the microphone and where we were from. Then he had a couple of us give testimonies. The main guy thought I was our teams leader for some odd reason, maybe it was a God thing, so he gave me the mic and told me to give a testimony. I started to think to myself, these people will not be able to relate to my personal testimony and worry swept over me. Not to mention there were more than two hundred people in the audience. A tad bit nerve racking I must say, but the Holy Spirit gave me the words and the confidence and I preached for around twenty mins to these people and I was led by the Spirit the whole entire time. Praise JESUS!

After this a HUGE, I mean HUGE storm started brewing and everyone headed home and we as a group ate and prepared for bed. I ended up sleeping in a tent with three of the Sweden guys. Now I totally told the Lord in Hawaii that I would love to suffer for the Kingdom, but I never thought I meant it literally. It rained most of the night, and not only outside but inside our tent as well. Us guys ended up with the only tent that had a sealant problem and I slept on the edge, which meant I slept in a puddle of water all night. When I said I slept in a puddle I meant to say I laid in that puddle, there was like maybe two hours of sleep that I got to experience during the night! No worries though, I told myself that I would love to suffer for the kingdom and I actually had peace most of the night when typically I would be pretty riled up from that. PRAISE JESUS!

When we woke up the next day we made some breakfast, African coffee and rolls full of jam! Yumm, we had more food on bush bush, than we get for normal breakfast here on the base. After breakfast we took off with around ten of the newly saved fellow believers of the church to get baptized. When we got to the beach where they were to get baptized they asked a few of us to help with it! I got to help baptize new believers! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, to think that before we dunked them in the Indian Ocean they were dead, and as soon as they came up they were alive in Christ and the Holy Spirit entered them! Wow what a feeling that was.

After we got back we packed up our tents made some beans and rice for the children who were having a mini church service in the church with the translators and handed them out. We then packed up our truck and headed back to Iris. This was one of the most fruitful times of my life, seeing and being part of miracles, baptizing fellow believers, being able to speak to hundreds of Africans, all in a short two days! WOW, to think I was hoping to go with Mamma Heidi to see these things but I was able to see them for myself! WOW, its like the Holy Spirit lives in me too… that was a joke, I totally know He does, and am so thankful that His dwelling place is in me! Don’t get me wrong I am still hoping to go with Mamma Heidi, because she is one anointed lady! And the authority she brings is incredible, but she is currently in America til the end of February, so maybe we will catch her before we leave in March! Until then, have faith that the Lord wants to move and work through you, He did with me, and im just a recovering sinner.  

Now that we are all settled in here at Iris we are on a more regular schedule and routine! Thank you Jesus! I have grown to realize I like a set schedule so I can plan my days according, but that’s beyond the point, I felt that for you at home, you are probably wondering what it is that we as Team TIM, “team THIS IS MOZAMBIQUE,” do every week! We are apart of a lot of various ministries that occur at different times during the day and week here on the Iris base and in the surrounding areas in Pemba. We are required to do around 30 hours of ministry a week. Now our team has 9 students and 2 staff, so needless to say we are the biggest team here on the base so we are mostly split up into smaller groups to help out the base as best we can. Everyday we have half of our team go up to the top of the base, which has a gate to the village that surrounds the base. There we entertain around 1000-1200 kids from 12-3pm. We play and sing and have skits and they give a brief message to the village kids before we feed them! Yes that is right we feed up to 1200 kids a day! This is my personal favorite ministry, because we get to be the light in these kids day, everyday, what is cooler than that! One of the days I was having an internal conflict with this ministry though, I was standing there witnessing the feeding, just thinking to myself, wow Iris has an amazing ministry here look at the numbers of kids showing up, but then it hit me , hard. Wow, this means that there are at least 1200 kids that have no food and are hungry so they come here to get one plate of beans and rice….. that got me to start thinking on how I used to complain to my mom that there was no food in our house when I starred at a cupboard and fridge that had food in it, it just wasn’t the food I wanted at that specific time! I was being stingy and selfish. But I also began to notice that there were young girls maybe, 8 yrs to 15yrs old that were carrying newborns on their backs, those babies should be at home with their moms, not traveling on back with little children miles to a base. Then I was speaking to one of the older village kids who helped run the village feeding, and he began to explain that most families here do not show love to their kids. He also shared that the kids had to do more than they should as children that they hold more responsibility at a young age then what is good for kids. This began to break my heart. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays we have our door to door ministry in the village, in which we walk through the village with a translator and just simply see who will talk to us. During this we typically grow in number due to the little children who run up and grab your hand or jump on your back and start yanking all over your body to pick them up. You can see in their eyes that we as the missionaries are the only people in their lives that actually stop and pick them up and hug them. But during this time we try and find the mommas that are walking around or outside their houses and ask them if we can come in and just spend time with them. We typically just bless them with conversation and ask them if they have anything specific we can pray for them and if they even want prayer. Then we ask God for words of knowledge or things to encourage them with and just prophecy that over them and their home! We had one elderly man come up to us asking for prayer saying he had pain in his joints, similar to arthritis, and we prayed for him, and through the translator he exclaimed there was no more pain in his hand and that it was gone, PRAISE JESUS! Other times during the week we have prison and hospital ministries, that I have not partaken in yet, but I am very interested. From what I know the people typically just ask for prayer and healings and words of encouragement are on the typical agenda! Right up my alley, I love just blessing people with prayer! Every two weeks we as a team go down and help the widows separate rice, beans, and corn into individual 5 kilo bags. 300 bags of rice, beans and corn. This takes awhile and the bags start to get heavy after awhile, but the mommas there really enjoy our conversation and the helping hands! They are so sweet and sincere when they open up to you! The girls have other ministries such as the prostitution and baby feeding ministries in which they can only be apart of but from what I hear those are amazing! Last but not least, my newest most surprising favorite ministry! Every Sunday night we go out into the town and do street ministry. Sunday nights are the big party nights, since in the Mozambique culture people work through Saturday, they have Sunday and Monday off as their weekends. So pretty much we go down into the town of drunk people or people ready to party. Now this may seem a little bit sketch, but we go in groups of at least 4 with a guy in each group for protection and it was pretty safe from what I saw last night! But we started out with my group of 5 people walking down the beach where we met up with Lamu, and Mario, these two men came up to us just talking and like God gave me the boldness to start speaking about Jesus and what he means to me. Now both Lamu and Mario said they knew Jesus they just needed encouragement and prayer so we right there on the beach just prayed from them. Lamu wanted to return home to Kenya but didn’t have money or transportation, and Mario was having confrontation with his sister at home and just needed peace and freedom. After praying with Mario, I felt God was telling me to ask Mario if he had anything that he wanted to set in front of the cross right there and ask for forgiveness from, something he was really ashamed of, and that if he did, he would be free from that sin and have peace of mind. I could see it in Mario’s eyes that he knew exactly what I was talking about and wanted to say it but just didn’t, and he started speaking about something different and just walked away. It was the most we could do. All I know is we were obedient and planted seeds! After coming back into the main group we split up again for our last hour to go and see what God wanted us to do. Now this time we felt like going into a different direction and for good reason too! From what I felt, our last venture was us actively searching people out, but this time we went and just stood near the area that the prostitutes stood just interceding for them, and people came to us! While standing there this man, Dominique, came walking up to us. He was a navy man from the South African navy in the area searching for pirates, woah. Well we starting praying for the man, and as we prayed the Holy Spirit just came fast and hard, and he collapsed in my arms so we layed him down and continued to pray for him. God revealed a lot to our leader Breno, who just sat down next to the man just pouring into him the truth of Jesus and just blessed the man. While Dominique was on the ground his Commander came over and asked if everything was alright, and I thought at first he was going to disrupt what was going on but instead he started talking to another leader Cam who ended up praying for the mans ankle which was hurt badly, and he was healed!!!! Praise Jesus! With that, he exchanged numbers with Cam and gave us permission to come on to their boat in a couple weeks when they come back from a mission, and pray for their men! WHAT! THAT’S CRAZY RIGHT! I truly believe God set all that up, as divine appointments! Finally we are beginning to see some fruit of our mission, and it was when we were least experiencing it! JESUS IS SO GOOD! I will continue to post more stories and my day to day activities! Just remember, simple based obedience is the best obedience because in those times, Jesus shows up, to show that person how much He loves them. What is better than showing people the love of Chirst?

So as I sit here and type this blog I have to inform you that this is a topic that has been growing in my heart since the beginning of my dts. It seems simple right, to just be still and know God is in control, for me at least its been harder than it looks. I have had troubles grasping what it actually means, and I will do my best to reiterate it to you all. I believe that that being still does not just mean to be quiet and sit and just think. It is more than that, it is a heart posture, and I believe that Christ reveals that to all who truly want to seek the answers. It comes down to simply allowing God to love you and placing all your fears, concerns and stresses in His hands. To be completely honest, this outreach has truly stretched me and is continuing to stretch me as the time goes on, but that’s what I asked for right?! See I am a person who likes to be in control and plan out what I can and cannot do, and being in Africa with no cell service, rare Internet, and no possibility to come in contact to plan my next move, it has really been a huge stress factor for me. I know, I know, I should be able to just turn off my brain as a “man” and just focus on what’s in front of me…. And that is the kids here on the base. I have been wrestling with the Lord on this placing my hearts concerns in His hands during this season so I can be a blessing to my team and the base here in Pemba. Don’t get me wrong I love being here and I have been connecting with these kids, this is more an internal conflict that I know we all have. Yours may be juggling, a job, kids, school, friends, family anything really. The real thing comes down to can we quiet our hearts in our busy lives. Can we lay down time to the Lord, in which He is so deserving….? Our team has been struggling with feeling that we are not being productive in the mission field and that we could be doing more…. There we go, we have it wrong already, because it is nothing we can do, its all about what God wants us to do. I will give an example, with this struggle on thinking we need to do more…. The past three days our ministries have been cancelled which gives us more down time…. Why do you think the ministries were cancelled. Maybe, just maybe God is bigger than we think He is. Maybe he has something else planned instead of us going out to the village to do ministry, maybe he is calling us to “be still, and just let Him love on us, and speak to us.” With all of my team being from the west, we are used to this task oriented mentality that makes us believe if we aren’t doing anything we are being unproductive. This maybe is something God is trying to break from us….?! So in this time we have been able to be still and let God love on us in our quiet times. Like I said before it’s a heart posture. I have had a struggle just allowing God to love on me, because I feel undeserving of His love, why do you love me Lord?, but breaking from that has truly blessed me. I have learned to be grateful of God just loving on me, and I have been consistently in prayer and worship. This is what we are all supposed to do in our daily lives, but we so quickly forget to bring God to work, or play with us. God wants to be in all of our lives, not just our Church lives. So let Him in, I mean He is our everything right?! The sooner we can let the Lord in our entire life, the sooner we can understand how much He truly loves me…. So this week try and let the Lord into other aspects of your life, I mean He is the reason we are alive, so he deserves it right?!

Now this may sound like i am talking about a girl but it is quite different from that. I am instead talking about Pemba, Mozambique. As you all may know i will be staying at the Iris Ministries base here in Pemba for the next two months. At first i wasnt quite sure on how i would like it because of the intense weather, minimal food, and rare internet to stay in contact with family, friends and my amazing girlfriend, but God’s hand has truly been in this trip so far and I am pretty sure he will have His hand in the rest of our outting here as well! Now i am going to go back and share some of our expiriences so far from the crazy bus rides to the precious children that stay on the base and even healings in the village! enjoy!!!

 So as you all may know my team left Kona, Hawaii on December 23, just two days before Christmas, the first Christmas i would not be spending with my family. Now this was a little difficult just being in transportation and in the air during the Christmas hours. We spent half of Christmas day in the air and the other part of Christmas day in the Frankfurt, Germany airport. The airport was rather dead and extremely cold,espically for the kids who came from Hawaii and heading to Africa, can you say shorts and flip flops! YES! but thank you airlines for those tiny blankets they really came in handy! From Frankfurt We flew all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa! Now South Africa is in Africa but landing there and taking a cab to the bus/train station, South Africa did not look entirely like what you would expect from Africa! The reason we didnt get flights directly to the Pemba airport was because of a word of the Lord saying take a train from Johannesburg to Maputo then a three day bus to Pemba. Now that didnt entirely happen the way we thought the Lord was describing to us… but when does the Lord do exactly what we expect from Him. Not alot, because He does bigger and better things when you obey Him. It turned out that we went to this train/bus station, that did not have a rail system at all. So we sat in the station trying to find a bus to Maputo, Mozambique. In the down time where we found a corner inside this station, God sent us different people to encourage us as we just waited, but the last group of guys came up and spoke to us turned out to be the President of the Assemblies of God Church in South Africa and he got us in touch with the Head pastor of the Assembly Of Gods Church that was known across Africa, who lived in Maputo. When we arrived in Maputo this pastor took us into his home, fed us, allowed us to shower, we got to sit in air condition, which now i am looking back as a luxury, and a place to sleep for the night as he hooked us up with a better, quicker bus ride to Pemba!!! CAN YOU SAY AMEN! We as a team did! 

Now the epic bus ride i will never forget! Lets sit here and think for a second, I am 6ft 4in in a bus that was overcrowded that didnt make more than 5 bathroom breaks throughout the two day venture up the coast of Mozambique. I also have a problem with ADD and claustrophobia, this mixing with rare stops and sweaty people continuously touching you got a little old after the first 20 hours on the bus, but God truly blessed us and gave us the grace ticket to get through with minimal complaints and no one on the team got on each others nerves, we pretty much just laughed about everything because the conditions were so rough. They also played inappropriate music videos throughout the entire bus trip with the music louder than anything anyone would play in their own car, and i say that as a kid who JAMMED TO MY MUSIC! During the not so frequent stops we had we got to witness village people selling fruits little snacks and even chickens on the side of the bus. and YES we had three different people purchase a chicken and bring it on to the bus for the remainder of the trip! There are more stories that i would love to share but il save those for a rainy date. Now this all may sound like a sarcastic complaint, but its far from it. This is just the reality in which we as a team died to ourselves to get to a place that was in need of the love of Jesus. Yes We as an American team had every right to be upset, uncomfortable, and in complaint for the situation we were in. But then after thinking about it. This was like our chance to be uncomfortable for Jesus, and to suffer for the Kingdom, thats an honor to me.

After choosing to keep my head and not giving into to much complaints God’s grace truly came because we arrived in Pemba and got to our very comfortable missionary houses. Yes houses. Breno, my leader, and i share a little house, two bedroom, two bathroom and kitchen with a fridge and everything! Living conditions here are actually better than at Kona, that could be because i am not sharing this place with 8 other guys just one, but who cares im loving it. We both got blessed with an individual fans as well, which is a luxury as well , i have never sweated so much in my sleep! but all for the Kingdom! 

I have made so many friends here on the base, these kids are all orphans or partial orphans on this base that just need loved. and the crazy thing i have noticed is that these kids have absolutely nothing and are so accepting to be loved. Love and Hope are the two things they hold on too. Because That is two characteristics of Jesus that are worth holding on too. I have learned so much from these kids. They are so passionate for Jesus and love Him so much. WHen they worship it is so annointed! We all have so much to learn from people like this. It is funny that the less you have the more you trust and love and hang on to Christ, we as Americans need to learn something here. When we stop hanging on to our securities and fully trust the Lord there is such a freedom that you experience. I have tasted this sensation just by giving all things up in my comfortable life at home up. I gave up college, job, friends, and family times, for Jesus and truly have been blessed by it! so i will just leave you with this question to think about… 

What are you willing to give up and die to, in order to follow Jesus with all of your heart?!….

more posts soon!

WOW, WOW is all i can say right now. These past 3 months have been such an amazing blur. I have met the Lord in radical ways and grow to have an intimate relationship with HIM! I have truly been blessed to be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to Mozambique, and i pray that the Lord uses me more than i can imagine. !!!

It just amazes me that i got a calling to Africa this summer when i was out in the mountains of Idaho and now it is coming to a reality… Jesus you are so good!!!

Tonight we fly out of Kona, Hawaii to San Francisco and have a 8 hr layover til we fly to Frankfurt, Germany and spend Christmas Day in the wonderful airport for 13 hrs. From Frankfurt we hop on a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We then switch our means of transportation to train for a day to Maputo, Mozambique then again change our means of transportation to bus for the next 3-4 days until we reach Pemba, Mozambique in which we will stay for the remainder of the 4 months gone!

I want to thank you all for the support and prayers in means alot to know people across the globe are thinking and praying for you…. please do not hesitate to send an email to myself of my parents. They too need comfort and peace sending their baby to Africa!!! 

DEAR JESUS, thank you so much for all you have done for me in this past 3 months. Lord you are the lover of my soul. I trust you with my life and i say i give you my all while i am in Mozambique. Lord prepare the way for my team and I. LORD i bless you for allowing me to run hand in hand with the amazing teamates of mine!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Jared Davis – Real Life Story

Coming into IU I thought I had my life and priorities correctly aligned.  I had what I called my “faith”. I went to church, didn’t commit the “big” sins, prayed semi-regularly and did all the usually “good Christian things”.  However, I was wrong.  I was proud and didn’t truly practice faith.  I was independent and believed I personally could accomplish everything on my own even if I didn’t want to admit it.  I valued achieving good grades, succeeding in school and building my resume.  I thought that by giving God an hour or two a week by attending a bible study or going to church was enough and then the rest of the week I could go back to taking control of my life.

Last year was a yearlong growing process for me.  I’m studying finance and accounting and within the business school it is strongly recommended to pursue finding an internship for the summer following your junior year.  And as I’m sure many of you know interviewing is a long and daunting process. 

I started networking in September of last year.  I attended career fairs, sent dozens of weekly emails, talked to potential recruiters and interviewed with as many companies as possible.  Yet, by the time Christmas break rolled around I had nothing to show for all my hard work.  I remember being incredibly discouraged.  I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t found an internship.  I felt I had good grades, good work experience and what I thought was a good resume.  Yet I questioned, why couldn’t I find a job (and I really want to emphasize the “I” in the question)?  Why couldn’t “I” find an internship?  “I” work hard in school. “I” do the right things and “I” deserve to find a good job. 

I started up right back where I left off going into the spring semester.  I still took it into my own hands to find and internship.  Yet, again, I came up short and all of the companies I had interviewed with had given me a cold “no” and there were few job opportunities left.

By this point I was at an all-time low.  I vividly remember a cold rainy February day last winter (similar to the ones we’ve been having this week).  That morning I had an interview with the most promising company yet.  The interview was rough, but coming out of it I felt alright.  The recruiter had drilled me with technical questions for an hour yet I felt I had given adequate answers.  Ideally that night I was supposed to hear back from the company on if I had received the job offer.  However I didn’t and I found out right before we had Cru in this same room. 

That night I had hit rock bottom.  For those of you who know me, know that I’m not an emotional person.  But I was brought to tears.  I had received over 50 “nos”.  And this was tough not having received any in my life before.  I was crushed and came to the realization that I could not find a job (and I want to bring the attention to the “I”).  My efforts were not enough; I could not find a job.

God broke my pride that night and I remember specifically lifting up my job hunt to God.  I prayed that He would give me a hope and a future.  I prayed for his will and that he would put me where ever he wanted me.  Whether it be in the jungles of New York as a banker or in the jungles of Africa as a missionary.  But most importantly I submitted myself to God and gave Him my future.  I realized my efforts were not enough but God’s were.  Ultimately he had control and all I had to do was ask.

That very next day I received an internship offer.  And I can say with full confidence that God provided it for me.  The firm I interviewed with hadn’t taken an intern in over 25 years, yet after the 6 interviews I had, they told me that out of the hundred or so candidates they interviewed from multiple school, I was their only and unanimous pick.  Receiving this internship was not in my own doing but in God’s will.  He waited for the very last moment and provided exactly when I needed it.  I want to make it clear, my efforts were not enough.  I was not enough, yet God’s were.  God was the answer.     

The more I worked this summer, the more I realized God had provided for me.  He knew exactly my heart’s desire, more so than I could have ever even imagined. He gave me an opportunity to work at a bank I respected in a city close to home.  He put me in a positive where I could grow and learn and he surrounded me with people I respected and who had similar morals and beliefs. 

At the end of my internship I received an offer for full time employment and on the first day of school this year I signed to return to work as a full time analyst next fall.  And I can say with confidence that God provided me this job.  He answered my prayer and gave me the “hope and a future” I prayed for. 

God humbled me this past year and I learned firsthand God will provide and He will answer in more abundant ways that we can even imagine.  He loves each and every one of us and is simply waiting for us to allow him the room to work in our lives. 

While I wasn’t able to make this realization last year, I can see in hindsight that throughout all of my struggles, God was standing close beside, waiting to comfort me; all I need to do was put aside my pride and truly ask in faith for Him. 

I’d like to end by reading a few versus from Jeremiah from which I alluded to earlier.  And it reads..

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  (and this is the key part, so pay attention)You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”.  - Jeremiah 29:11-13

This last verse was pivotal for me this past year.  God wanted me to wholeheartedly pursue Him in faith with my entire life and that by relying on Him; He could then provide the rest.