TUCSON BORDERLANDS YOUNG ADULT VOLUNTEERS

My parents say this to me all the time. It makes sense to me about life things. Today, though, it makes sense to me about world things.

To me, this statement is, yes I’m going to trust God through everything, with the usual warring, praying, gnashing teeth, trying to figure it out, being human that goes with that. But I’m also going to take action. I’m going to DO something to move forward. While I was working on the initial discernment process for YAV, I still put in applications for teaching positions, I still interviewed for other things, I got offered other positions, but I felt like this is where God wanted me, so I stalled on accepting things until I knew 100% for sure that YAV either was, or wasn’t, going to be a thing. That’s the tying your camel part. It’s making sure that you cover every eventuality, while trusting that God is going to provide you the right path. I had this heart and gut feeling that it was YAV (and a small voice in my head, after my Tucson interview kept saying “Tucson would be cool. That’s a totally different place, you should go there.” and things) but I didn’t want August to role around and have been wrong and have nothing to go to. Because that’s me not taking action to follow God’s call, that’s me just sitting back and going “You do everything, God, and I’ll play video games and binge-watch shows, and it’ll be cool.” That’s not how it works.

God doesn’t just call us to prayer, meditation, and reflection. Oddly enough, I’ve probably heard His voice and call in my life more while DOING and LIVING with others, than when in quiet. I think for me that’s straight up because the little anxiety monsters that tell me that I’m wrong, thinking the wrong thing, discerning the wrong thing, being the wrong thing, tend to appear more in moments of quiet. I struggle with shutting my brain up more when I’m quiet and alone. When I’m doing something, whether that’s singing, laughing with friends, working, playing, or whatever, I get these thoughts that just float by and stick around. And then I go pursue whatever it is. I go DO it.

God calls us to ACTION. Concrete, definable, obvious action. Part of my current action is preparing for YAV, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I’ve given myself the lazy summer for a couple weeks, while still mentally, emotionally, and spiritually preparing to leave. Now I get to do the physical, the deciding what I’m keeping and storing, the packing, etc. I’ve been reading, praying, spending time with the people I’m leaving, learning things to help me. I will keep doing those things. Regardless, all of these things are concrete, tangible, see-able actions