Never Say Never to God

I left California in 1983.  I grew up there for 21 years.  I never liked it there, living in the desert area of California, in a small town where nothing ever happened except the occasional tipping over cows or in my case, mooing at them and they just stare back at me in curiosity, wondering if I was insane.  Oh sure, as teenagers, we would cruise the main streets on the weekends and hang out at a local shopping center, and yes there would be an occasional drag race.  But to me, I enjoyed bigger and better places.  I dreamed of living in big cities with tons of stuff to eh' keep me in trouble.  I wanted to travel the world and see everything and people of different cultures.  

My first step was a Bible College in Phoenix, Arizona.  A great chance at a "big" city.  Back in 1983, Phoenix was less than a million people, but to me, it was big.  I tried college, and my best class was sleeping in.  Colleges should never allow a 7 a.m. class, especially in a Bible College.  It's a sin to get up that early!  Didn't quite make the college scene and dropped out in 1984.  Got married in 1985 and thought this was going to be great.  Later we had our first son, and Lo' and behold we moved back to California, but to a bigger city near L.A.  Exciting, right?  The problem with a big city is traffic.  That soon got old.

We eventually moved to Montana and had our second and last son.  Montana was fabulous, but troubles entailed.  What could go wrong in Montana?  Well, things happen.  We moved again to the capitol of Montana because my husband went to a trade college.  He graduated and got a good job, but then we decided to move back where his family was, in Illinois.  Exciting, right?  It started out all wrong, but the church I finally settled into there, I loved.  More trouble ensued and there seemed to be no way out.  I loved living in different states, but despised moving.  And guess what?  We ended up in a small town in Southern Illinois.  No more big cities.  Frankly, after Phoenix and L.A. and traffic, I wanted a small town to raise my kids in.  Ironic?

I never knew where God wanted me to be, and I was never happy in a sense.  I had my demons to deal with in spite of everything else.  Life never agreed with me.  God kept prodding me, and I kept ignoring Him.  I came to a place where I found my faith was no faith at all and hit bottom.  I found my new faith and was ready to go where God wanted me to go, as long as it wasn't my hometown.  Two years later, I felt God prodding me to go...and guess where?  Yes!  My hometown in California, with my mom.  Yes, God has a sense of humor in getting our attention to minister to others, when we don't listen.  There are still struggles, but not hopeless struggles as before.  There is hope in our struggle when we walk in faith.  And always remember to never say never to God.  God will look at you and say, "Oh yeah?  We'll see about that".

More on the humor side of the Christian walk to come.  Thank you for reading.

Sabrina