From Faith to Faith: My Transition to Texas

A few collages that some of my dear friends made for me <3

 I have only been in Texas for 5 days now, but God did enough during my drive down here, that alone proved His faithfulness. To give you a little bit of back story, I was not planning on driving by myself to Texas. I just didn't see how that would be possible. The idea of me being in a car for at least 12 hours by myself, just didn't make sense. All last week I literally prayed to God, every single day, to send someone to help me drive to Texas. I don't have the best history of driving long distances with others or by myself. In fact the longest I probably drove by myself, until Saturday, was probably about 2 hours or so. Even when I moved to Atlanta and drove down from Baltimore, which was about a 10 hour trip, my dad was with me and I barely drove 1.5 hours before I was falling asleep behind the wheel. In my mind I was thinking there is absolutely no way I am going to survive this 11.5 hour trip and I need someone to volunteer to come with me. The only problem was that the few people that had mentioned coming with me The Lord hadn't given me peace about, but yet I remember Him whispering "You are not going alone," months ago. I was pretty upset because I was fearful that I wasn't going to make it by myself and might end up in a crashing into a huge ditch somewhere randomly alongside I-20 (yes I tend to be a bit dramatic at times). So by the time Saturday came and no one else had offered I was actually pretty confused, that is until I realized that this whole time The Lord was talking about The Holy Spirit. He was the one who would accompany on this journey, not a physical person. If I had known that I would have saved myself a lot of unnecessary anxiety leading up to my departure trying to figure out God's plan, instead of just resting in Him.

Since my bed was already gone, my friend Stepphina allowed for me to sleep at her house Friday night, on her blowup mattress. This meant that I would be more comfortable and 30 minutes closer to Texas than if I had slept at my place. I originally had planned to leave at 4am, but that didn't happen because I didn't even go to sleep until about 12:30am. I knew that I needed to get at least 4 hours of sleep if I planned on making it through that drive alive. Well long story short I didn't wake up until 5am and didn't make it out of the house until closer to 5:40am. I was already behind schedule in my mind, but I knew my body would be thankful for those extra moments of sleep. I said my final goodbyes to Stepphina, doing my best not to burst into tears, said a prayer, put on Travis Greene's cd, and headed for the highway. Once I got on the highway the first car I passed had Texas license plates and not even 3 minutes later I was passed by another truck with Texas plates. I couldn't help but smile and thank God for reassurance, so early on in my long drive, that I was making the right choice.

I crossed the Alabama within about 30 minutes, time went back an hour, and my GPS said I had a little over 11 hours to go. I told myself Cierra, you got this. Well not even 45 minutes later I felt myself falling asleep. Trying my best not to panic, I started praying that God would give me strength. I don't really know how to explain what happened next. As I was nodding off my hands kept turning the steering wheel to the right, but I felt as if someone was holding the wheel to keep it straight. It happened a few more times and every single time my wheel would lock up and I could only drive straight. Clearly it was The Lord and I was beyond thankful for His intervention, otherwise I know I would have ended up in some ditch like I originally feared. I saw a sign for WalMart and went to the parking lot to take a quick nap and pray. I felt The Holy Spirit saying I needed to eat, so I drove over to Chik-Fil-A, got an order of hashbrowns and biscuits (I'm a vegetarian, so no chicken eating over here), and stretched my legs. Once I got back in the car I prayed once again and blasted my music even louder, determined to stay awake. Well the craziest thing happened. All of a sudden I got this random burst of energy and was no longer tired. Plus by this time the sun was starting to rise, which only helped my situation. Later on in the day I found out that a friend of mine was praying for me at 7:30am, which was 6:30am for where I was, and that was the exact same time that I got that burst of energy. That just goes to show the importance of praying for others when God tells you to. If she hadn't been obedient I can only imagine how different this story might have been.

So back to my drive....I decided that I was going to stop to stretch my legs every 1-1.5 hours to keep me alert. I stopped for gas in Alabama and then rolled straight on pass Birmingham, where I saw a sign for Atlanta and seriously considered for a second just going back. I was only 2 hours away from Atlanta vs. the 9.5 hours I had left for Fort Worth. Clearly I didn't let my emotions win and kept it moving forward. Finally, I made it to the Mississippi Welcome Center and took another break. It was my first time in that state and the people seemed to be super friendly.

My phone had been going off all morning with messages so I responded to a few and got back on the road. Every time I received a message it brought tears to my eyes, because I kept thinking of all the amazing memories and people I was leaving all over again. I tried my best to ignore my phone and remain focused on the road. I ended up driving straight through the rest of Mississippi without stopping. My goal was to get to Fort Worth before dark, since I had no idea where I was going.

I was so happy to see the welcome sign for Louisiana!! Looking back, although I was exhausted, it was kind of cool to drive through places that I had never before. Once I saw the welcome center I once again got out and stretched my legs. By this time I had received a few phone calls from friends encouraging me and was a little more than halfway through my trip!!! Yay!!!

After driving a few more miles, I realized that I needed gas again. When I got to the next exit with a gas station I strongly felt The Holy Spirit urging me to turn right. I wanted to go to QuikTrip, which was in the opposite direction, but I ended up going to Exxon because it was the cheapest on that side of the highway. Well I have a rewards card called Plenti and saw they accepted it. I punched my number in and it said I had 800 points and could get $8 off my gas. What???? I love discounts and saving money!! All I could do was laugh and thank God as I filled my tank up for less than $10!!! I almost missed out a blessing, because I wanted to do my own thing, but I'm thankful I was obedient. I drove a little further and started to feel slightly lightheaded so I stopped at a WalMart to get some water and snacks. I was so exhausted by this point and still had 4 hours to go. It took everything in me not to breakdown and stay in that parking lot. I was too far from Atlanta to go back, but too tired to go forward. I prayed again and got back on the road and decided that I would stop in Shreveport for food. My friend Stepphina called to keep me company and that helped me so much!!!! I was able to find a really cool health food store cafe in Shreveport to grab lunch from. I was only 3 hours away and determined to finish this trip strong!!! This whole time I was sending groupme updates to my prayer ministry and small group family back in Atlanta and they were so supportive and encouraging every step of the way!!!

I couldn't help but get excited when I finally saw the welcome to Texas sign!! I was almost to my new home!!!! Praise The Lord!!!! The next time I stopped would be at my cousin's house in Fort Worth!!!

I ran into a little traffic as it started to get dark outside, but even that couldn't steal my joy!!! A couple hours later I pulled up to my cousin's house around 6:50pm. It had taken me over 14 hours, but I had made it!!! *insert praise dance here* I know for a fact that it was God and only God who sustained me during that journey. Just to note I had never been to Fort Worth or my cousins' house, who have made me feel so welcome here. They really have been super accommodating and supportive during this transition. I had never even been to Texas prior to September, and even then that was just for 24 hours for work. Yet when I got here I immediately felt at peace and knew that this is where God has called me to be. I was tired but really desired to go to church that Sunday and ended up accompanying my friends Michael & Amanda to Tony Evans' church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas. Afterwards we went to brunch and they ended up paying for my meal, which was totally an unexpected blessings. Speaking of unexpected blessings, as I was leaving Whole Foods Market later that day I was driving home and talking to God about my job situation. I was like You know I don't have a job yet here Lord, but I know that You are my provider and will give me what I need to pay my bills even without a job. When I got home I just happened to check my Facebook junk messages and there was a message from a woman that said she felt led to sow a seed into my faith walk. I was sitting here thinking like okay she might give me at the most like $20, but she gave me $100!!!! I have never met her, but best believe if I ever do meet her I will give her the biggest hug ever!!! I'm totally blown away by God's faithfulness in this journey.

That night I started to look up jobs but didn't have peace about applying for anything. Monday, I woke up to spend time with The Lord, and He instructed me to not apply for any jobs this week, but to focus on resting and seeking Him. It's been a struggle to honestly just rest and enjoy His presence, because I'm so used to always being on the go. Slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of it and really trying to enjoy all the free time I have!!! The enemy was making it seem like me being here was purposeless and I started throwing mini pity parties in my mind. I've learned that any time God gives me a season of rest, the next season is going to BUSY!!! I love how caring He is about stuff like that!!! He has a purpose in everything that He instructs us to do!! My schedule this week has consisted of waking up by 9am to pray and spend time with The Lord for a few hours. I was having trouble pushing through my emotions on Monday and Tuesday mornings and kept crying because I missed everyone so much, but my friend Stepphina called me on Tuesday night to pray with me and got my life all the way together. So when I woke up on Wednesday I felt like myself again and was able to really press in. After I have my quiet time, I typically get dress and head out for the day. This week I decided to venture out to explore Fort Worth a little bit and will probably explore Dallas next week. I've been to Trinity Park, Sundance Sqaure, North East Mall, and to the movies just to name a few places. It was almost 70 degrees today and I literally was at the park for almost 4 hours :) Tomorrow I'm going to a worship event at a friend's church and we shall what else this weekend has in store. I want to sincerely thank all of you who have been praying for me. Like for real. You all are awesome!!!! I'll blog next week some time and go into more detail about what God is doing in my heart in this season, lessons I am learning, and whatever else happens over the next couple days. I don't know exactly what He has in store, but I know that He didn't bring me all the way here to fail me now!!!! The peace I have here is so sweet and calming and I know this is only the beginning of something amazing...

Sundance Sqaure in Fort Worth

Until next time,

Cierra

xoxoxo

On my date day with Jesus :)

                                                        

"And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."

Deuteronomy 31:8

 

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P.s. This is a beautiful song about resting in God that I've been listening to all week!!