The Persuit of the Proper Road

The one thing I've learned is that if God doesn't want you to do something, he won't let it happen. Plain and simple. That being said, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Around the fall of last year, I heard about this opportunity from a friend in the church in which I could go over to Malaysia (Kuala Lampur) to teach ESL with a Christian company. I was so excited! This was my opportunity for me to go out and get some good teaching experience. What's more, it was in a foreign country in which I've been before, it's where my roots are, it was with a Christian group, and best of all, it didn't require me to be a University graduate to apply with the company. It felt like this was God's plan for me. It truly got my hopes up.

In the weeks after, I started e-mailing the head of the school. I sent her my resume, stories and information about myself. With that, I waited for a few months, but to my surprise, got no response in the following weeks. After wondering why I had not received any word from the head of the school, I turned to my friend, who knew the head personally, and she was nice enough to find out what was going on. After a few months of waiting again, I finally got an e-mail in which I was told I could come, and that they were finding accommodations for me. At this point, my hope was rekindled. I finally felt like God was moving this path along for me.

I waited a few more months for the next response so that I could hammer out the details with the company, but like my situation in the previous months, I got no replying e-mail back. I sent numerous messages to them, yet got nothing in return. I was so frustrated. I felt like God was taking away this awesome opportunity for me. I was really bitter about it because it meant so much to me. I had planned to go there during the summer, and now my plans appeared to be ruined. I finally gave up and decided to move on. I was so angry with God. Why would He do this to me? Why would He give me that hope and then, in just a few months time, crush my aspirations?

Things felt hopeless.

But only for a little while.

Only a few months later, early on in the spring of this year, I heard about an opportunity to go on a missions trip to Mexico to teach ESL for a week with my church. I jumped at the opportunity, and am now fully engaged and am preparing for this wonderful trip. It's a humbling experience to know that God has brought me to where I am right now. I have learned so much already, both spiritually and mentally, about myself in these recent weeks of preparation for the trip. It has truly been a beneficial experience for me thus far, and I haven't even gone on the trip yet. I can't say that I would have learned this much about myself and my spiritual life if I had gone on that trip to Malaysia, so for that, I am thankful.

Ultimately, God took away my trip to Malaysia because he had something better planned for my life. God wanted me to go to Mexico to serve Him rather than to Malaysia to serve myself.

God really has a plan for us, and in the end, it always works out. At first, things don't always seem that way, but if we give it time and let God take control of our lives, the better road will appear to us, and it is that road that God prompts us to walk along.

I bet he's looking down on me, smiling, and saying, "I told you so Chris". How can I blame him? I know he's right.