Oh this great adventure...

Beware: long post, you must commit to finish :)

Now when you grow up in suburban Dallas, play the viola in high school (it's true), and aspire to be the first woman president of the United States of America (not kidding), your life is supposed to go a certain way.  With that background, those skills, and that desire I thought I was headed somewhere.  I thought, in 2003 as a high school graduate, I was headed for greatness.  And now I know I was, it just looks a lot different than I had expected.

My mom and dad, to my great delight now, said, "no way jose are you going to college in new york, city."  Thank you mom and dad.  Therefore I landed at the aforementioned Baylor University.  There I entered as a political science major.  That lasted, well it didn't last.  When I got to Baylor I met the Holy Spirit for the first time ever.  Now, some are thinking, "but you were saved before then", and this is true.  Before I went to Baylor I was sealed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, but I'm talking about something a little different.  It's like having a roommate you never knew was there.  In college I simply got introduced to a roommate I had had since I was 12, I just never knew He was there.  Just like any friendship you start to have conversations.  Well I began to have a lot of conversations with the Holy Spirit.  There very first time I ever heard him say anything to me he simply said, "read the book of James."  So, me being the rule following girl that I am, I read the book of James the next day.  It changed my world.  I don't remember why, but it did.


From that day on I resolved; if the Holy Spirit is the spirit of God then He's perfect which means everything he says is perfect.  I also thought, I'm not perfect, so I bet I should ask the spirit of the perfect God what to do.  I started doing this.  Those of you that have really lived life with me in Waco the last 8 years know, the Holy Spirit is my favorite person and I LOVE to hear what He's saying.  He is my favorite person to be with, talk with, and share life with.  For those of you who haven't been in Waco, mainly my family.  I'm really sorry I've never really described this relationship with him very well.  He is the best, that's about all I can tell you.

Now this post was not supposed to be about the Holy Spirit, but why not.  He does deserve all the glory, praise, and honor of all the world!  So because I started asking him things, one night at a college church service I asked him, "is political science really what I'm supposed to do," (I wasn't enjoying it so much at this point), and he said no.  I actually really felt him leading me towards a degree in Spanish.  SPANISH???????? That's what my parents thought.  In a news poll I read recently, those earning a degree in Spanish have the 5th lowest peak salaries of any college degree.  Rough.  But I did it.  I was able to spend for months in Spain, travel to mexico and communicate fluently, and help out with some bilingual stuff at my church in Waco.  It also put the nation of Spain on my heart.  One day I really want to live there.

At a Real Madrid game in 2005

But the kicker of all kickers was this one day in March of 2010.  I was sleeping on a thin mat on the floor of a  private school in Port-Au-Prince Haiti.  I have some high school friends who teach there, QCS.  I had handed out hundreds of drugs that day, been bit by what seemed like hundreds of mosquitoes, and gone on the bumpiest car ride of my life.  As I was laying down to go to sleep, this sweet voice that came from a man I have completely fallen for asked me this question, "Amanda, would you move here?"  Amanda, the girl from suburban Dallas, who played the viola, and wanted to be the first woman president of America.  Amanda, the girl who loves the Hilton, massages, and haircuts.  Amanda, the girl who came alive in western Europe.  Guess what my answer was....

Yes.  Holy Spirit you have healed my heart.  Jesus you have rescued me out of the pit.  Father, you have loved me with the deepest and greatest love I will ever know.  Just like the passage from John 6 "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Jesus has those words and his Holy Spirit utters them all the time.  Are we listening?  What if I hadn't heard?  I would still be in the grace of the Father, but I may not even know about this next great adventure. 

I pray I would always listen, always keep my hearing in tune, keep it sharp, so the day he speaks the next great adventure, I'm listening.

Holy Spirit, I love you.