If God Will Provide

You don't have to read this blog or look at my Facebook profile much to know that I am so happy to be here at Florida State University right now! I know this sounds so cliche, but I'm living the dream. I'm learning so much about Spanish and the Latino culture through my classes in the Spanish program. I've met so many amazing people in my classes and through the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. I've been able to live my dream of helping people from other countries adjust to life in America (and share my Savior with them!) through this ah-mazing club sponsored by the BCM called Friends of Internationals. Plus, I have my own apartment-which means that I can sit up at 2:50 AM and drink coffee while writing a blog without having to worry about waking up good ol' John and Karen Rambo :) Oh, and I've found an amazing church called Fellowship of the Hills! Not to mention I'm going to spend my entire summer in Peru doing mission work and possibly my spring break in Panama! Yeah life is pretty much awesome now.

God has provided for me. Every desire that He has placed on my heart He has given to me. I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams. Yet there's that one special person He hasn't brought into my life at this time, and that's the right guy.

You, oh Life in the Teepee! reader, are probably laughing at me right now. And ha ha ha to you too. I mean, I know that I won't even be 20 for a few more months, so I still have my whole life ahead of me. I probably don't even have time for a boyfriend right now between schoolwork, BCM/FI activities, and a job next semester. Plus, not having a boyfriend/husband to fall in love with means that I can 100% fall in love with my Maker. And all of these reasons are great. But sometimes on nights like tonight, I wonder if this is the one thing God won't provide me.

I know that I'm weird, both inside and out. I have red hair for Pete's sake, red hair that makes me stand out from a crowd. I speak English with a deep Southern accent, yet speak Spanish in a way that made my professor from Spain ask me if I was from Argentina. Being from a town where some people think that Mexicans swim the Great Lakes to come to the U.S, I stood out because I was the only kid in 3rd grade who would rather study a globe than play kickball. I'm even a bit weird at FSU because instead of looking foward to partying on Friday nights, I get excited about drinking tea with international students for an hour and then helping students from all over the world go grocery shopping. Before that I walk around campus and start up conversations with students that lead to discussions about Christianity, then I bring cookies
to students' dorms who visit the BCM for the first time and chat with them. I'm not really normal lol. So if God will provide someone who can accept that about me, that will be awesome.

Sometimes I wonder if I get discouraged about falling in love because God hasn't provided many men in my life before. I've only seriously dated one person and gone on a few dates with three others. Most people start dating when they are 15 or 16, but I didn't even start until I was 18. I know that all things happen in God's time, but the fact that I didn't start dating until later doesn't give me much hope that God will provide.

If God will provide a husband for me one day, I wonder who it will be. Maybe I've met him already, but now isn't the right time for him to pursue me. There's always the chance that I haven't met him yet, but it's possible that I'll meet him tomorrow. No matter when he might come in my life, I really hope that God will provide him.

All things happen in time. I had the dreams of learning/studying a foreign language, living on my own, getting involved in an amazing collegiate ministry, and volunteering with immigrants to the US for a reason. God has given me the chance to do all of these things now. I lay my desire of having a husband in God's hands. If it's God's will to provide, then He will.

Gulf of Mexico

I was surrounded by a huge group of my new Florida State University friends at the Gulf of Mexico. I looked around, first at the 13 international students and my two American friends Ellen and Matt that surrounded me on the beach, and then into the ocean, when I remembered the last time I was at the Gulf of Mexico...which you can see here. :)

It was July 29, 2010, and I was at Gavelston Beach, Texas surrounded by the 20 other college students who had given up their summer with me to serve Houston's immigrant community. As we were all working for an amazing non-profit Christian organization called Mission Centers of Houston and sharing a house together for nine weeks, I considered these people my family. When I looked around, first at my brothers and sisters in Christ and then at the beautiful ocean designed by my Creator Himself, I knew that only God could have put me here.

See, I had always loved other countries. Globes always fascinated me as a kid, and I'd ask my dad questions at age four like "Are people in Africa free?" I was obsessed with learning more about other languages, religions, and cultures, but most of all teaching others about my own. Those passions led me to move to Houston, Texas for a summer and help Latino immigrants. It was so awesome that I knew that only God could have put me there.

Meawnwhile, that night was my last night in Texas. The next day I'd be back in my hometown of Macclenny, Florida. As I looked into the Gulf of Mexico, I wondered where God would take me or only where God could have put me. Houston felt like my home. Would God really take me to other places that felt like home, too?

Sure enough, God would take me to Florida State University after I finished my AA degree. There, I'd get involved with an amazing ministry called Friends of Internationals, which allows American FSU students to help foreign FSU students get used to the culture shock of living in America. One of the things that we did was take the internationals out on special trips to see more of the US, which is what we were doing this past weekend in Pensacola. By making these friendships with internationals, we are able to share the Gospel with people who'd normally never step foot inside of a church.

It had only been a few months since I joined Friends of Internationals when I was staring out into the Gulf of Mexico that day, and already I felt at home. For one, the two other Americans who were with me, Matt and Ellen, actually understood my nerdy love of other cultures! I smiled as I saw Matt happily babbling in Arabic to a student from Egypt and Ellen teaching the three Koreans Russian. Plus, they were both so fun to hang out with and great examples of Christ to me. At that moment one of the Chinese girls came up to me.

"Caro-lee (this is my name in Mandarin), how do you call this in English?" Yessss! I loved answering English questions! Then Robert, the Panamanian, started speaking to me in Spanish. I loved being able to understand other languages!

I smiled at the Gulf of Mexico. The last time I looked at it, I was surrounded by a group of amazing people at Gavelston Beach, Texas. I was so happy on that July day that I wondered if I'd ever be that happy again with a group of people. But this time, I was looking at the Gulf of Mexico over a year later, and I was just as happy as I was before. At that moment I knew that there were good people, no matter where you go, and that God has plans for you, no matter what shore of the Gulf of Mexico you're on.