Uncomfortably Comfortable

As I sit down in an attempt to catch up once again, I am struggling to pick a starting place, and questioning my ability to capture this experience in mere words. After a refreshing night alone in the carport Airbnb off some dirt road in Utah, I finished out the last stretch of my road trip, making my way to my new home in Flagstaff. Each time I relocate, I am humbled by the experience of starting over in a completely new place. It is the simplest of things that we tend to take for granted, such as figuring out which gas station has the cheapest prices, where the locals get their groceries, or finding the local hot spots that make these transitions so unique. This is the foundation of a statement I now use quite frequently: I’ve learned how to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I have become comfortable asking about favorite coffee shops, local must-do’s, and top restaurants. I have become comfortable eating by myself, taking on adventures alone, and even more so, going out on a limb to make a new friend out of a first meeting, even in the high chance of rejection or an odd stare. When your limited to three months in one place, you don’t have time to waste in beginning to check the boxes of the to-do lists that are so quick to form.

So here I was, officially relocated once again. A six-hour drive to the closest familiar face and a four-hour flight home. Ready to embrace the uncomfortable feeling of starting from scratch. Ready to take on whatever God had prepared for me, even if that meant three months of falling completely into Him without the support of a new community in close proximity. But God had different plans this time, as I’m finding that he often does. 

Less than twenty-four hours after my arrival to Flagstaff I found myself standing before a stage in Flagstaff High School. Following a heartfelt worship session, a speaker announced a variety of ways to get involved in the church, as well as some upcoming meetings associated with the church and their partner organizations. By the end of the service, I strongly felt as though I needed to get connected before walking out the doors that morning. Being a travel nurse leaves between twelve and fourteen weekends to be a part of a church body, including weekends that may be spent at work. In other words, with the desire to get involved, I didn’t have much time to waste “testing the waters”. As the crowd thinned, I made my way to the connect desk and exchanged my first Flagstaff introduction. I briefly explained my situation, half asking where I could be used and half asking if it would be of any benefit to have someone help for that short of a time. Kailey ran through a variety of options, introduced me to the children’s ministry director, and after a while closed our conversation with something I will never forget. Following all of the amazing information she had just provided and assuring me there would be room for my two hands, Kailey said, “But if you ever want to just get coffee, here’s my number” as she jotted her name and number on the back of a business card. Wow. In that moment, God lavished my uncomfortable with complete comfort. I was excited to get connected at Redemption after sitting in on the service and feeling the Holy Spirit move in the words that were said and the songs that were sung, but now, I was sure this is where I was supposed to be. Ten minutes later I found myself at a desk attending the children ministry orientation session, so that I would be available to begin serving as soon as I was needed.

The next day I began my new job at Flagstaff Medical Center and met my new roommate, who had been out of town when I arrived, along with her boyfriend and their dogs. Outside of work orientation during the week days, I began navigating my way around town, occasionally testing my skills by turning off my GPS. Let’s just say it took a while to understand the layout of the roads, and the thought that I’d get a better understanding on my bike was quickly proven wrong, but it was an adventure nonetheless. In this time, I also signed up at a gym, where I was able to begin getting to know the new spin class instructor, Monika. She had recently returned to the area after living abroad for a few years and yes, she was one of the people I asked to be friends in our first encounter. Thankfully she didn’t respond with rejection or a weird stare, as she is now someone I will struggle to part ways with when my time here comes to an end. After our last day of orientation, the group of new travelers, along with spouses and significant others, met up at a local brewery to continue in getting to know each other and share about our travels. The next morning, one of the other travelers, Juno, and I took on one of the tougher hikes in Flagstaff…tough for two people still adjusting to the 7,000-foot elevation anyways! That night I met up with Kailey and a group of her friends in downtown Flagstaff for a quick bite to eat at a different local brewery (yes, there are a lot of those in Flagstaff!). The next morning, I was back at Redemption Church as they continued in their series through Exodus. Just one week into my time in this new home away from home, I was already feeling so connected. I was already feeling the community surrounding me. I was already feeling at home. Throughout the next few weeks, this place rapidly grew into more than just my home in the physical sense of the word. 

Even in what may sound like a crazy week, with little time to rest, God was so present in all of the details and in fact, I was finding a great amount of time to be alone with Him. Each day, I was able to step back in awe of how perfectly He had coordinated my every day – the people, the places, the church, the town. Even more so, He was so evidently aligning my spiritual walk. When I was in Costa Rica a group of friends were playing a Bible Trivia game and I realized how little I knew! This wasn’t new news to me. Just a year prior, I had questioned my ability to be a leader on the mission trip for this very reason – I didn’t know the Bible stories, how could I possibly lead people in their faith?! Although God so clearly showed me how I could be a leader in my faith, unfortunately He didn’t suddenly instill these stories in my brain through osmosis. During this Bible trivia, I was kindly reminded of my lack of knowledge, especially in the Old Testament, as I had spent the past year in the New Testament. With the thoughts of beginning through the Old Testament already circling in my head, I returned home from Costa Rica and decided to attend one week of a six-week study that my home church was working through. The topic? How to approach reading the Old Testament. Alex, my friend and a pastor at the church, spoke through the over-arching themes of the Old Testament books, and discussed that ultimately, these stories need to be read with the lens of redemption. A few years back, as a brand-new believer, I had picked up the Bible and attempted to read it just like every other book I had read in my life; front to back. I didn’t last long before a friend led me to the gospels in the beginning of the New Testament; more than half way through the text. Just as Alex had explained to the class, I didn’t have a clue of God’s redemptive plan and therefore, reading the Old Testament only served to be both boring and confusing in that time. However, now I have read through the New Testament, and I have begun to understand our God and His overarching plan of redemption for His people. Needless to say, I knew that it was time to begin my journey through the Old Testament and began to do so before departing for Flagstaff. So back to God’s perfect planning, that first Sunday I was sitting in service at Redemption Church when the pastor came out and announced that they would be continuing in their new series through Exodus. Yes, it lined up so well with my reading and the pastor did an amazing job of shining light on God’s redemptive plan, as well as today’s application of this scripture. During my quiet times throughout the week I was repeatedly blown away by the depth of the words that I once was so quick to overlook. The details that were once pointless to me became a beautiful picture of how much our God cares enough to detail the smallest pieces of His creation and how much more He cares about us, His people. On Sundays, I would go to church and the pastor would reveal yet another layer of depth to the Word. God is good and He wants us to know Him. Better yet, He has given us the tool to do so! 

Although amazing, and beyond anything I could have coordinated, this wasn’t the only part of God’s planning in my spiritual journey that stood out to me. During my drive, as I was reflecting on the lessons that I felt like God had worked into my life both in St. Louis and in the past two months, I felt like this would be a season of better knowing Jesus as my friend. Whether I would be surrounded by a community here in Flagstaff or standing alone, I strongly felt that these three months would bring me a greater understanding of Jesus being here by my side, walking this crazy road with me. Upon getting unpacked and settling in, I was so eager to resume the video calls with Donna and Roy. Within the first week, we were able to figure out the time change (Fun fact: Arizona has their own time zone) and set up a time to meet. After catching up and expressing my excitement for this new place, Roy gave me an overview of the new course we were going to begin; The Intimacy Discourse. We were going to dive into studying the many ways that Jesus desires and offers an intimate relationship with each of us. It was immediately obvious to me that I would, indeed, be getting to know Jesus as my friend.  

            Just one week into my new journey, my community was growing and my faith was deepening, a trend that only continued throughout my thirteen weeks here in Flagstaff. So here I sit, having successfully caught up the blog by ONE WHOLE WEEK, while the adventure seems to be twisting and turning more quickly than I can grasp with these words. I am so thankful for an adventure that moves more quickly than I can type! As the end of my time here is quickly approaching, I am preparing to jump into more unknown from this place where uncomfortable so quickly became comfortable, but yes, I do still hope to share the details as time allows.  Thank you for being a part of my adventure.