2 weeks. I can't believe it's almost time to leave! It seems like yesterday that I officially decided I was going. Why am I going, you may ask? How did I get this opportunity? Well...here's the story.
I don't know why I decided to do it. Why was I Googling summer internships? My summer plans were set, or so I thought. I was going to be in Wellspring for the third summer in a row (a worship team representing Spring Arbor University; we traveled to several camps and churches and lead their music, were counselors for the youth, helped in the kitchen, etc.) I absolutely loved traveling with this group and wanted so badly to do it again. At this point, however, I had seemed to forgotten that God had been telling me something the summer before while on the road. I had this feeling that something in my life was going to change. God seemed to be telling me He was preparing me for something different, but I had no idea what. Then later on in the fall I was helping out at a youth retreat at one of the camps I had been to both of the previous summers. I love it there, but, I just had this feeling I wouldn't be going back after that weekend. I didn't like that feeling because I had so many great memories there.
So back to me sitting at my computer, I had sort of brushed off all the feelings I had previously about not doing Wellspring again. I had a plan set and a routine in place I did not want to break. Then why was I looking at all these internships? Well, I thought it was just for fun, but God has a sense of humor and had much bigger plans. I wasn't planning on acting on any of the opportunities I found, but one in specific caught my eye. Texas? Oh no, I wanted to go to Illinois. I loved the description of the internship the church gave on their website, and I felt like God was telling me I needed to dig deeper into it. I got up my nerve and talked to my parents about it. They were not opposed to the internship, to my surprise. But they were not sure how I would be able to make Illinois work. I would need to find a place to live, I wouldn't know anyone... We decided we would all pray about it and see what happened (me thinking that it was a nice idea, but probably not going to happen).
I got an email the next morning from my mom. She mentioned the conversation we had the night before, and asked if I had thought about contacting my cousin who is on staff at a church in Dallas. Why hadn't I thought of it before?!? I emailed him and asked if his church ever has interns during the summer. He wrote back right away and let me know they actually have several during the summer and gave me the name and contact information for the worship director of the church. Before I knew it, I had emailed the worship director and set up a phone conversation to discuss things further. At this point, I had a pretty good idea this was where I would be for the summer. This was confirmed to me during the November WAVE (Worship Arts Vespers Experience) service at SAU. I became overwhelmed by what God was teaching me during this short service, so much in fact I ended up leaving for a bit and standing in the back, weeping. I was going to Texas. Terrified, I told God I would go if He wanted me to, and that was that. I told only a couple friends after that service what had happened, because I hadn't really officially had an interview or been accepted as an intern.
After a couple failed attempts at our phone conversation, the worship director and I finally were able to connect and after our discussion, I was offered the internship. Did I mention this whole thing happened in about 2 weeks? It was a very stressful time for me, but luckily I had a class full of worship arts majors who knew what was going on and were praying for me, in addition to my worship professor/advisor. And my fantastic roommates, of course :) In December, I made plans to head down to Dallas. I rode down with my aunt and uncle after Christmas. I am happy to say I loved Dallas and my cousin's family. It made me that much more excited to spend the summer there. God has worked everything out so perfectly, better than I could have ever imagined.
There you have it! My God-story of how He has been and continues to change my life. Although I am nervous about leaving my comfort zone at home, I know this summer is going to be life-changing. There will be bumps in the road. It won't always be easy. But I also know this may very well be one of the best summers of my life!
