Grace (my little sister), walks into my room this morning wakes me up by shooting me with a Nerf gun, announcing that it is time to drive her to school. I roll out of bed, slowly mosey my way down the stairs, still in my PJ’s I might add, and vacantly stare at the kitchen wall as I wait for my sisters to be ready for me to drive them to school. Grace begins jabbering excitedly at speeds that only natural extroverts can manage that early in the morning, and as usual, I zone out and occasionally nod my head as she speaks to give the appearance of an attentive listener. She suddenly cuts short and takes a breath before she looks at me and says: “Julia, in 24 hours, we will be getting on a plane!” She took another breath and said in a slightly emphasized manner: “Julia, in 48 hours, we will on a plane!” Then she giggled at the grimace on my face as I thought about the amount of time it will take us to travel to Kenya.
But then it hit me, at this time tomorrow I will be on an airplane heading for Kenya! That is a nerve wracking thought. I continued to be lost to my thoughts on the drive to their school. The sun was rising in front of us as we drove (a lovely sight that I rarely get to see; incase you didn’t know, waking up before the sun is not a normal activity for the average college student), I was struck by the thought that the next time I saw the sunrise would be tomorrow, above the clouds, looking down on my hometown where everyone else was going about their typical daily tasks as I fly to the adventure of a lifetime in a completely different country and culture. This was an overwhelming thought for me, especially as this thought hit me with only 24 hours to process it!
Let me explain something about myself; I am a planner, I like to plan just about everything weeks (or years) before they happen. I plan everything from which homework assignments I will do which days to what jobs I will be applying for in a few years; I even tried to plan out what emotion I would feel when my parent dropped me off at college. It is probably also important to state, as I am sure you can assume (especially when it comes to emotions) that though I am a planner, my plans usually don’t go the way I planned them to; I am simply unable to account and plan for the ways that God will move through these events. God likes to catch me by surprise with His plans, plans that are always much better than my own and leave me captivated by His love and beauty. Today, I was again caught by surprise by our awesome God. I realize that I have not planned at all for this moment, I have no expectations as to what He will teach me, I have not even thought about how I will feel when I see my family’s sponsored child again. Outside of the fact that the trip has a preplanned itinerary, I think that the farthest I have planned personally has been planning what I will be wearing each day so that I pack efficiently. And this morning, as I watched the sunrise I grew truly excited about the awesome things God will do on this trip. I continued to drive, captivated by the thought of how He will surprise me with His plans for the trip. And for the first time in a very long time, I felt completely at peace with the thought of not having any plans at all.
The Colors of Julia 