Week 1

Hey folks,
For the next few weeks I will be posting updates on this blog to keep everyone informed on what's happening in Chicago, what the Lord has been teaching me and what I have been up to with my project team and at my job and in this ministry.
This will be a place where I am completely honest about my experiences in Chicago. This will be a little bit more personal than email updates or Facebook posts.
Before I tell you about Chicago, I wanted to first thank you all for supporting me with your prayers and your finances! I have not reached my goal yet, but I am confident that the Lord will bring the rest in quickly and in His timing.
So with that: I am in Chicago!
It has been about 5 days since move-in and I am loving this place!
For the next 10 weeks, I will be living in a loft apartment very close to downtown Chicago. The lofts are beautiful and I even have my own room.
I share the loft with 3 incredible roommates who are super encouraging as sisters in Christ and so much fun to be with, I feel like we have been friends for a long time, we get along really well and I am so thankful for that. We are also very honest and open with each other which is an incredible blessing for me, because I feel as if we can really encourage each other through our past struggles and our current ones.
The schedule for the next 10 weeks is pretty packed; it includes Sunday church, Monday and Thursday night meetings, Tuesday night bible study, Wednesday night quiet times and fun/game nights/hang-out times thrown in along with campus times once a week and other meetings as well throughout the week plus work 5 days a week. So even without work, project is pretty busy and can be rather exhausting.
However, the Lord blessed me with a job before I even arrived in the city, which I am extremely thankful for. I work at a landscaping supply yard, I am the receptionist. I do miscellaneous jobs around the office, including organizing products, filing paperwork, rearranging things and of course answering phones. Today, however, I worked the sales desk which was terrifying. Today was my third day in the office and the only landscaping thing I can do right now is help customers order sod. So the Lord was definitely in control of this afternoon as I stepped behing the sales desk. He provided customers with patience and my co-workers with compassion, patience, forgiveness and kindness as they helped me work the desk. They walked me through orders and checkouts while the customers patiently waited for their products, I have never felt God's provisions like that before.
Here's why: When you are in a hurry and all you want to do is complete your tasks for that day and you run into something that slows you down or makes you miss a task or throws off your schedule, you get frustrated right?! Its a human thing, we have all done it, you just aren't in a good mood, or you've had a bad day, or its hot and you want to get back into the air conditioning, whatever the reason is, we have all been there and it is frustrating. Well today, I was that obstacle. I had no clue how to work the desk or the computer system or even what some of the products were, no clue, I can order you sod, but that's about it, oh and I can put you on hold and make you wait for the next available worker who can actually help you with your order, which can be really aggravating. However, instead of these customers taking out their frustration on me or yelling at me or complaining, they were patient and kind and waited for the next available worker or waited with me as I was walked through the steps to complete an order. Talk about God's grace! That was so cool to me! I honestly felt God's grace and it really showed me God's control and power in all situations, even in a hot dusty trailer in the middle of Chicago.
Although frustration did get the best of me on the walk home, God's grace and love covered all that, at work and tonight. Wednesdays are times where we spend time reading the bible and praying before God, times where we can get away from the craziness of the city and spend time with the Creator. The Lord used that time today to calm my frustration and bring me back to the reason I am here, which is Him and He has been using the Bible and the rest of my team here with me to show me that He really matters, and He is the only thing that matters in this life. Not broken phones or hot summer days or crowded bus rides or sore legs or clumsy moments or even my roommates or work, only He matters, the Lord. This is why I titled this blog Isaiah 43:7 which reads "They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory." That matters. God matters and He is the only thing, that is why I am on this Earth right now in this year at this time, for God's purpose and to bring Him glory and He has honestly been teaching me that recently and it is freeing to think about that. So bad days? Don't matter. Broken phones? Nope. Sore legs? Who cares. Mean customers? They aren't why I am here. I am here for God's glory and that is incredible. Very cool!
Tomorrow, I go on campus for the first time since arriving in the city. I will be at DePaul University tomorrow, talking to students about who they are, what they believe and simply getting to know them. I have been assigned to Illinois Institute of Technology and Harry S Truman College, which have mostly international students. I am very excited to go on campus and learn all about the students of this city, but I am nervous for how the Lord will use me on these campuses because I don't have much experience with international students, so I am trusting the Lord with this one as He takes me out of my comfort zone.
That is where I will wrap up for the night, with the Lord taking me out of my comfort zone which I think will be a theme this summer.
Keep me in your thoughts and prayers! Thank you again for all the love and support!
Look for updates throughout the summer and throughout the weeks to come!