The Biggest Curveball & A Little Explanation

Quitting college before it even started definitely was not on my bucket list. If you're someone that went into complete shock when you saw my plans to abandon going to college in Cali, well, join the club. I'm that club's president. I had been planning on going to SBCC for so long, and I had absolutely everything figured out: my wall decor, my most effective tanning lotion, my Uber membership, my best "sunshine state" VSCO picture filters, really everything that a college student in California needs. Oh and I even registered for classes! But considering I'm not really in the driver's seat of this life, it makes sense that I didn't see this big change of direction coming. God never had to go through the DMV, so he gets to make turns wherever in the road He wants to. It all started the night before I made the life-altering post on Facebook (because it's not real until it's posted of course). That night, my mom and I went out to dinner just the two of us, so I knew something was up. If you know my little sister at all, then you know that you do not leave her out unless it's absolutely necessary. As I was peacefully about to destroy the taco in front of me, my mom started talking about finances. Finances. No better way to ruin a perfectly good meal. The bills were stacking up and things were going to be really tough on my family because a singular book is thousands of dollars in this day and age. We didn't know if I would even be able to go a second year. All this disgusting talk led my train of thought down an even more tragic path: doing my own laundry in college. I'm totally joking. That is not what influenced this huge decision. I actually started thinking about what the original reasons were for going to college in California. I got this dream in my head during my sophomore year, and I implanted it into my future as if my entire existence depended on it. During that time in my life, though, all hell was going on at home. So, naturally, I wanted to get far, far away in an act of angsty rebellion for all divorced kids everywhere. Thankfully God didn't leave me there and has worked some incredible miracles in my life. Incredible, people. Incredible. More on all that another time, though. So I'm thinking and realizing and reminiscing and all that good stuff, and that's when God turned on His metaphorical blinker to turn around. YWAM had been laying heavy on my heart while I was in Kenya, but I just figured I would do that adventure once I had my Bachelor's at UCSB or something like that. And then this. I started asking my mom if it would be too late to make a few changes to my plan, and she said it still wasn't. It was THE DAY BEFORE I pick my residence hall room, after all. I went home and started talking to God, to Tanner, to Tiff, to basically anyone that wouldn't mind if I was a babbling mess because my life was feeling a little hectic at the moment. Once the hormones receded and I was thinking clearly again, God did a little Internet magic. I still wanted to go to California, so I typed YWAM California into Google. Oddly enough, though, the first thing that popped up that I clicked on was a YWAM Worship & Music DTS in Australia. The dates, cost, location, everything was perfection. It all lined up and suddenly I felt excited and at peace all in one. Also, whenever I am prayed over by my youth pastor or by other leaders, a reoccurring theme is the call on my life to worship. I talked to my uncle and my papa, some really influential dudes in my life, and they both said similar things: If it's God, just do it. So here's this path that God shows me, with less debt, a beautiful adventure, more time with my family and friends that I've become so close to, and something I love more than life: worship. It was like God was standing there with a neon flashing sign with this like HELLOOOO I really could not make this more obvious look on His face. I applied right then and there. So just like that, everything changed. I'm over-the-top excited and I don't have a single regret. God's pretty cool, mates.