What in the world is God doing?

Did you have a plan when you were younger? You know, the “when I grow up” type of thing. Plans… I love plans… I made lots of plans for my life, very detailed plans. I want to share with you about what my plans are and where I am at in those plans. My plans started when I was eight years old, when I felt that God wanted me to go to the mission field and become a missionary teacher at Black Forest Missionary Academy in Germany. So I decided that I would go to college get my elementary education degree and move to Germany. Those plans changed my sophomore year of college when I transferred schools and changed my major to Middle School Education. Than… I thought that maybe I was not meant to teach in a classroom, but instead I would use my teaching gifts to work with at risk teens in the slums of somewhere. Than… I discovered something that changed my life… something so simple and easy. I had given my life to Christ years before and yet I was still trying to dictate my plans. Hahahaha, funny right. After much frustration it clicked that God’s plans are not my plans (thank goodness) they are so much bigger and better. So, I ended up at North County Christian School (a place I said I would like to teach at, but probably never would) for two years and they have been the best two years of my teaching experience and the beginning of my adult life than I could ever ask for or imagine. Through these two years I have been taught, encouraged, challenged, and molded by people that I obviously needed in my life. I had fallen in love with this family and had gotten to the point of not wanting to leave, but I had learned that I can not make plans.
When I was around eight years old I discovered Isaiah 6:8 “…here I am, send me.”, and over time I have been challenged by this verse and I have had a chance to look at it more closely and truly make it my prayer. Through life I have struggled with that surrender, basically because I like to make plans, but God is faithful and He is determined and I thank Him for that. Last year I was reading through Jeremiah and for some reason was stuck on chapter 1. In chapter 1 God tells Jeremiah that He has chosen him for amazing things. Jeremiah tells God that he can not do what God is asking him to do, but God tells Jeremiah that that is not true. God created Jeremiah with the characteristics he needed to serve Him before he was even born. God used Jeremiah to bring glory to His name and bring others into a relationship with God. I did not truly understand these verses until a couple of weeks ago when it hit me. I have been prepared to do things with my life that I never dreamt were possible. God has a plan for me and it is definatly bigger and better than I could ever dream. In April 2008, I sat down with an Africa Inland Mission representative, named Warren, to talk about the possibility of me going to Africa on a short term trip. In the back of my mind I said that I would never go, but I was doing the good Christian thing and leaving my options open so it looked like I was letting God open and close the doors in my life. I told Warren that I would pray about it over the summer, but I knew that this probably was not for me. During the summer I "prayed" about Africa, not really of course, because I knew that was not where God wanted me. I was however challenged by God to take His hand and go on an adventure with Him. September came and I went to my second meeting with Warren, I was prepared to say that I would not go to Africa, when Warren said exactly what I needed to hear. This past fall I had been struggling in teaching not really knowing why, something was really wrong, but I knew I was not burnt out. Warren and I talked through what possibly could be going on and it hit me. I knew why I was feeling the way I was feeling; I had asked for it, and some people say that God does not listen. When God had challenged me to go on an adventure with Him I told Him that if He wanted me to leave my job after two years He was going to have to take my passion away for teaching at NCCS or would not be able to leave. God did exactly that! I realized God was trying to get my attention and so I began to listen up. From September to January, I prayed and fought and struggled and finally decided that I could not sit any more and do nothing. In January, I applied to do a one year short term mission with Africa Inland Mission. I did not really know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, but I really did not want to teach. At that point I left everything up to God, where I was going, when I was going, what I was going to do, and even if I was really going to go. By February I had decided on Uganda, but than by March I suddenly realized that I was going to go to Sudan and teach(what I said I was not going to do). I told God in March that if He wanted me in Sudan and if He wanted me in September(a date I really felt at peace about) that He would have to expedite this thing. My interview that was supposed to be at the end of April was moved to the same I week I had prayed for all of this. I was accepted by the next week.
That whole story brings me to the present. I went through all of that to tell you that I am going to a continent I said I would never go to, a country I said I would never go to, and teaching something I said I would never teach. God is amazing and sovereign! I am leaving the between the end of August and the first of September to be a short term missionary with African Inland Mission outside of Yei, Sudan. I will be partnering with Open Door Mission teaching children of Sudanese tribal pastors on the Emmuel Christian Training Center. I am helping develop the secondary school and will be teaching four to six students history and biology(the subject I said I would never teach).
I have learned through all of this that I am truly created in God's image and everything in my the characteristics that make me up scream Lord God Almight, Creator. I have also learned that there really is a peace that passes all understanding, because I have that right now. I really do not understand why I am going to Africa or why I am going to teach biology, but I do know that God is sovereign and He is mighty and if I continue to trust in Him He will guide me, teach me, and mold me. I can not wait to be able to depend completely on Him and see Him in a new place and in new faces. Praise the Lord!
In my next post I will tell you more about what I will be doing and who I will be working with, but I just wanted to share how I got here and what I have been learning. Thanks for reading!