"Back from Canada"

HI!!!!!!!!

Alright, I'm going to get straight to the point and start this story up!! First off, it might be long because I'm hoping to fully express God's complete faithfulness through this LONG story!!! Secondly, God's grace is hard to understand, and accept, but my goal is to show you how incredible and neverending it is, and perhaps you can be encouraged through this :)


First things first...I don't know if you could pick up the depression, confusion, lack of patience, and discouragement from my last post but I went through a phase where I basically gave up. I was tired of job searching, I was tired of getting rejection letters, or no responses from jobs, and I was tired of everyone asking me what I had decided between Canada, France, or whether I'd gotten job interviews and I had to keep responding "No job interviews, and I still don't know what I'm doing" :(

Well at that point not only was I becoming distant from my friends and the people who truly cared for me and wanted to support me, but worse of all I was definitely becoming distant from God. I felt like he'd given up on me and no matter how much I seeked, I wasn't getting any responses. It was hard. It was dark. I was sick for a while to, which gave me an excuse to retreat in my room and sleep all day everyday.
The worst yet best week happened when I got the news that I wasn't going to be able to drive my brother in law's car anymore for various reasons. The news hit me hard. It felt like the little bit of freedom and independance I'd gained over the past few months was getting robbed away and I just did not know how to handle it.
I was dealing with to much at once. It was crunch time. My 60 days of grace were quickly coming to an end. I didn't have any hope on the job side and I was realizing more and more that I should be starting to pack my belongings and pick a country.

Oh it was a dark time. I hit rock bottom. Sometimes rock bottom is the only way God can shake things up enough to take us where He wants us to be though. I basically came to a point that week where I just broke down and asked for repentance and begged for His grace, His strength, His mercy so I could get up off my butt and fully trust in Him. Trust that everything would be ok. More than ok in fact.
Sometimes it's just that easy. All we have to do is ask. My attitude changed immediatly. I was a different person that next morning. I felt peace. I felt motivated. I felt joy. I felt a conviction that allowed me to focus not on myself but on God and on the people that were around me. loving me. serving me. praying for me. It was time to return the blessings.

This week allowed me to faithfully step into the following week. A week of decision making, of interviews, and of goodbyes.
In one week I had to not only decide where I would be going, but prepare myself for two job interviews, prepare myself mentally for my departure, say farewell to so many people without any personal transportation, and make a lot of phonecalls concerning what I was allowed to do while considering Canada as an option to avoid any illegal activity. (I had to find out whether I was allowed to go there, whether I could come back, find a place there, etc....)

By the end of this week, I was able to tackle most of these things by the grace of God. He provided me with rides to places, with connections, with some answers, with MUCH patience, with focus, with strength, and with perseverance.
Both of my interviews went pretty well. I didn't get either of the jobs, but I felt confident afterwards and this whole time I just felt like I was doing everything in sync with God's plan.

One of my really close friends, Dave, had offered to drive me to Canada once I'd gotten details of where I would stay etc...

Tuesday  morning, we head out and after what should've been 4 and a half hours of driving to get to the border, 7 hours later we reached the Canadian border in Detroit.
I knew all along that God had intended for me to go there. I just knew it. Little did I know what all He had in mind. It's so easy to think we've figured out His plans, but He never ceases to BLOW our minds!

Upon arrival at the Canadian border, the lady asks me what my status in the US is. I  take the time to explain my being on a 60 day grace period and after a couple more questions were answered, I was sent over to the Canadian Immigration's office for a more explicit interrogation.
An hour later, I was told I was not allowed in Canada for 3 reasons. The first being my not having enough funds to support myself, the second was my not having any medical care, and the third was my lack of proof of reentry into the country I had just came from.

All three reasons made sense, however, I knew that they basically didn't want to deal with anything illegal or weird since I didn't understand my situation very clearly.
In order to return to the US, I was required to go through the American Immigration's Office for a couple more questions.
The Americans were not as friendly as the Canadians were at first. They tried intimidating me, and attempting to accuse my friend Dave of being my boyfriend who was trying to smuggle me back in the country. They treated us like we were nothing basically.
While they were doing some more investigating my friend Big Dave and myself were both praying for a lady in particular. We felt like she had insecurities and not only prayed for her specifically but for whatever the situation was to be taken over by a more understanding, cooperative, and patient person.
LONG STORY SHORT....4 hours and a half later, we were out of that office. Not only did this lady that we'd prayed for and who had been quite rude to us at first turn out to be caring, gentle, loving, and friendly, but we were also able to leave while knowing that God had been with us every step of the way throughout this mini journey.

The officers I spoke with turned out to be real nice. They offered us food. They were friendly, and very encouraging, The one in particular who was the answer to our prayers, who basically took over my "case" basically told me I was good to go. He trusted me and could told I'd done my best to follow the law but due to the complication of my situation, they still had some details to look over and double check and pass on to authorities that could decided better what to do with me.

So all of this to say, I will be here in the US until I found out whether I need to leave or not. If I find a job, I could still have a chance to stay, so number one priority is finding a job. again. back at point A.

I am just so grateful because who would've thought? Had I decided to go to France and spend big bucks on a ticket out of fear of the unknown and not trusted God with Him telling me to go to Canada (even though I know, there would be a chance of me not being able to get in and all of this turning out way worse than it did), I would've just wasted money and perhaps missed out on something big that God may have for me here.

Either way, now I have more time whether it is to find a ticket back home, or to find a job around here.

God is great. That is all I have to say. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and things are still very up in the air, but I am being shaken and molded through this unknown plan God has for me.

I literally cannot express to you all the power of prayer. I could feel people praying for me as I woke up, as I had to explain my situation, as I went through my days and the rock bottom I hit that God used to get me back up to be where I am now, today, was an answer to all of your prayers. The peace and joy that have positively overwhelmed my heart these past two weeks are a definite result of your prayers.

so THANK YOU. The journey resumes.

I also know that my friend Dave felt very uplifted and encouraged by the time  we both got back to Huntington. We had a great talk about GOd's faithfulness and power and His desire to provide us with more than what we need if we can just let Him.
Let go...and follow. That's what I am learning to do.

I don't know why God chooses to use me to go through these crazy situations and basically use this life of mine as a testimony of His power, grace, and faithfulness, but I'm glad He does. I feel priviledged and I am grateful.

Love,
DJO