God Works In Mighty Ways

This week was the mission trip I've been waiting to come for a year now. I've been absolutely pumped about it since last summer and it exceeded any expectations or dreams I could have wanted. The highlight of every day for me was the worship time. Matt Archibald led worship for us and then the Mission Discovery guy taught, and man was he good. The best part though was breaking up into small groups. I was a leader for the 7th grade girls group. The junior high director's wife leads this group and I joined her. The first two nights I mainly listened to her lead and put in my input every once in a while. She had to leave early because she can't work all week being pregnant. I knew this but I didn't know I was going to be leading their small group all by myself for two nights. I was totally unprepared but those two group times were so awesome. Wednesday night the teacher had the most amazing lesson ever. He challenged the entire group and poured out his heart before the group. The kids all walked away with tears in their eyes and a head full of thoughts. I decided to go to a secluded spot with my group and let them just spill their thoughts. They "spilled" for probably half and hour and just kept going on and on about how they never knew that God loved them so much and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with Him. I was tearing up just listening to kids so young feel so passionate about God. That night alone made the whole trip worth it for me. I really felt God telling me to open up more with the kids. The main idea of the night was that we replace God with something in our lives but once that is out of the way that a life with God is the most amazing and peaceful thing you can experience. Before I knew what I was doing I started telling my story. I told about how softball was my life. I played from t-ball all the way to 6th grade in the summers and then in 7th grade I played more seriously. It became my life. I played year round once I hit highschool and it took presidence in my life over everything including God. last summer I went to Challenge conference and when I left all I could think about was how I was missing a week of ball. I got there and after the first message I didn't think about softball for the rest of the week. God was changing me. He was pushing softball aside and jumping to the front. I came home and didn't even want to be on the ball feild that night. I went out and played the worst game I'd ever played. I got pulled and was upset. I was told to stay warm so I was throwing a ball with a teammate when I accidently threw one onto the feild. I'll never forget what my long time coach told me. He said, "Taylor, next time you leave and come back not wanting to play ball, don't come back." It hurt so much. It was what I had based my life on telling me that I was terrible at my "life". I played another tournament after that but didn't want to be there at all. The next week I decided it was time to quit. I was just going to wait to spring and play with my Christian team. Little did I know that when I called my coach and barely got out the words that I was quitting that it was the last time I'd be on a team. I remember feeling like a part of me was being cut away. I had made that sport such a big part of my life that it felt like I was removing part of my heart by  putting God ahead of it. Honestly, that is what was happening. The best part of it all was that God comforted me in the process and I didn't miss playing. I enjoyed actually having free time. I trained hard for the spring season but got news the season was canceled. I found that I wasn't nearly as mad because God was already in the place. So it wasn't me taking my life apart again. It was a small part of my life being taken away. I had a slow semester where God taught me smaller things. A lot of this story didn't click until this week and I think that is why it was so emotional for me. The reason it all hurt so much was because it was God purging that from my life. The reason it doesn't bother me that I'm not playing ball is because God is now first over that. I love that. This week was incredible and I learned so so much about myself. God works in ways I never could guess. What a week....