At the instruction of my Father to leave my comfort zone to a place I had never been to or lived before, I felt peace. Peace and calm that I could not explain to people whenever they commented on the foolishness of my action. The foolishness of quitting a budding career, familiar terrain, and a promising future.
I Couldn’t care much about people’s thoughts and opinions at that point, given that I had received the clarity that I sought earnestly from my father. I sold most of my appliances and other personal effects that I had, I quit my job and prepared my beautiful sons for the journey. Seven months after my Lord’s instruction, I was in the United States full of hopes of the wonders my father was about to wrought in my life and children, and full of money from my savings and sales of my personal items. Asides, from the confidence, that I had in my father, I was super optimistic about the opportunities waiting for my children and me.
God’s first miracle for us was finding a good house to live in within such a short time frame. I read about the requirements for renting apartments in the United States. I understood that I needed a decent credit score or a guarantor in order to rent an apartment there. I had none of these things, so my plan was to stay in a short-let for a month or two. Unknown to me, my God had gone ahead of me to make amazing preparations. The Hispanic man who God sent to pick us up at the airport to the short let I had reserved was a jovial man. We got off with a nice conversation about our faith in Jesus Christ. I could not contain my excitement about my first interaction with a Christian in America. Although I wasn’t exactly sure about finding a Christian community in the states just as I had back home, I prayed about it. So meeting this Christian man with the most brilliant smile and eyes filled my heart with even more hope and joy.
Throughout the one-hour drive, we talked about his migration to the states, how he found community, and how he struggled with communicating in English initially. He smiled so hard as he shared how God brought his wife his way and how it marked the beginning of a great turnaround for him in the United States. I remember the goosebumps I felt as he shared his love story with me, I could not help but marvel at the awesomeness of God’s wonders. He began to ask me questions about my faith journey and I shared with him up until my faith trip to the United States. “So no family here, where you gon’ live he asked. I smiled at him and like my papa Abraham, I said, “God will provide”. He smiled back at me and said Amen.
He dropped me off at our short let and we said our goodbyes. Only for me to receive a call from Mr. Antonio the next day. He told me that a member of his church was looking to rent out an apartment that was available in his building. “Are you interested in viewing the place”? he asked. Absolutely! I answered.
It was perfect housing for my sons and me, the Landlord gave us a discount and took a huge risk on us without asking for a guarantor or my credit history. This was a sign and confirmation for me that the Lord was indeed with me on the journey. I couldn’t have been more grateful.
I settled in quite alright and so I began to send applications for job opportunities. It was the longest six months of my life! I received rejection emails upon rejection emails, some organizations just did not see the need to respond to me. I began to doubt God and began to question my existence. And the more I prayed, the more it seemed the silence from heaven grew. God seemed to be silent about my petitions, He wasn’t saying anything, or perhaps I wasn’t paying attention or “did I lose my ability to hear Him”, I thought to myself many times.
No day went by without me screaming out to my God to at least say something or give me a sign. I stayed long in His presence yearning and longing for Him to say something about my job search but God was speaking to me about everything except this one thing I was asking Him for. “How will I keep living here, God!” “How will I survive once our savings are completely depleted, I asked Him” Still silence in that regard was I received from my God.
One fateful evening, as I took one of my head-clearing walks, I came across a flyer about a non-profit organization that helped people, especially immigrants navigate through the job market. I reluctantly took a picture of it and made a mental note to call them first thing in the morning. This organization put me through a three-month training and matched me with my first job opportunity in the United States.
In hindsight, God wanted me to spend quality time with Him in order to garner depth and stamina for the new phase of my life. So in his mercy, He closed those job opportunities for that period, that I may tarry in His presence beaming under His light and favor.
My story still continues… but this is a highlight of the goodness of following Jesus’ instructions. It may not make human sense initially but it is always worth it to follow God’s leading 100% of the time.
I pray you are able to discern God’s voice in the midst of chaos and I pray that you are strengthened in faith to follow through with those instructions in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
with so much love,
Tracy.