Nothing Is Impossible With God...Unless You Make It Impossible.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE this day. But maybe not for the reason you think. 

Four years ago today, I packed up my belongings and moved to Kansas City. I had been living in Manhattan, KS, going to school, pursuing a degree in Interior Design, and living a completely miserable life. If you know me or have read any of my previous posts, you know that I grew up in church. You also know that after I graduated high school my life began a downward spiral and I was on the fast track to depression. I'll spare you the details, but if you want to know, check out the rest of my blog posts. 

On January 27, 2014, six days after the worst birthday of my life, my 21st, I found myself crying in my bedroom. I was depressed, lonely, and miserable. At this point in my life, I believed in God, but I didn't know Him or really care. Then I picked my head up off my pillow, wiped my puffy eyes, and looked across my room at my bookshelf. Crazy Love by Francis Chan caught my eye. My brother, Devin, had given me this book years before and told me to read it but I never had any desire to, until this night. I got up, went to the bookshelf, and grabbed the book. Then, I began to read it. I didn't know why, but it's not like I had anything better to do. This small decision changed the course of my life forever. 

As I read, nothing significant happened, I wasn't having any mind blowing revelations, I was just reading. Until I got to chapter 9. This chapter is all about people who did what others would call "radical" when they were really just doing what God had asked them to do. They were all sold out people who lived their lives fully surrendered to God. As I read this chapter, for the first time in my life, I heard the audible voice of God say "You're moving to Kansas City." I knew it was God because I would have never come up with that on my own. I responded to it and said "Well, I guess I'll finish the semester and then move there." Immediately after I heard the voice again say "No, right now." I put the book down and sat there in shock for a couple of minutes. Then I text my mom because I didn't know what else to do. She didn't know either so she suggested I reach out to my brothers, one of them actually lived in Kansas City. Before I went to sleep that night I told God "Okay, I'll go, but you have to make a way because I have little money, no place to live, and no job lined up." and then I went to sleep. 

The next day I went to one class and then spent the next three hours that day communicating with both of my brothers. I remember texting my brother Derek, the one living in KC, and telling him what I heard God say. He responded very quickly saying "Well, we just moved into a house and we have an extra bedroom so I guess you can live with us." 

The day after that I withdrew from the university, mind you, with NO resistance from my adviser. She was all for me doing what I knew I needed to do. 

Within a couple of weeks I was in Kansas City. 

There is so much more to this story, but that's not what this post is about. 

We've all heard it said or have probably said it ourselves: Nothing is impossible for God. However, WE can make things impossible for Him if we limit Him or put Him in a box. When I heard God tell me that I was moving to KC right now, I could have said...

1. But I haven't finished school yet. I need to get my degree. 
2. I don't know how to make this happen so it's probably not a good idea. 
3. You have to provide a job before I'll drop out of school and move there. 
4. You have to make sure I have ___ amount of money before I can move there. 
5. I need you to confirm 7 times that this is what you have for me.
6. It might be uncomfortable to do that so I'd rather not.  

The list goes on and on. But I knew that there was no way I came up with the idea of moving to Kansas City on my own. Instead of telling God what he had to do or putting limits on Him, I started MOVING FORWARD. I reached out to people who I trusted, I started looking at options for housing, a job, and what I needed to do to officially drop out of college. I didn't know what it was going to look like, if I would have a place to stay, or if I would have any money at all, but God already had that taken care of. All I had to do was step into what He had for me. 

Too many times in our lives we make excuses as to why we can't do what God has asked us to do. We tell Him how we think it needs to be instead of the other way around. We put God in a box instead of stepping out in faith and trusting that He will take care of us and provide the resources that we need. 

In 4 years, my life has changed so drastically and I absolutely cannot imagine what my life would be like had I put limits on God instead of using the resources I had to step out and do something drastic like dropping out to school to move to Kansas City and into the unknown.