FALLING INTO PLACE...

"You must know that in any moment

a decision you make

can change the course of your life forever;

the very next person standing behind you in line

or sitting next to you on an airplane,

the very next phone call you make or receive,

the very next movie you see or book you read

could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open,

and all of the things that you've been waiting for to fall into place."

...Anthony Robbins
 

This post is about 'falling into place'...earlier I wrote about taking you with me for a visit to China.  Remember?  Well, it's several weeks and posts later but it's time because this month brings to mind one of those events that causes the floodgates to open and change lives forever!  What is it? 

Michael and I 'fell into place' as we began teaching 700 Chinese university sophomores and freshmen...350 each...7 classes per week...eleven years ago this month. 

One qualification for doing that included having a college degree/degrees...I had neither.   Against my will...coupled with my continual objections...I was bullied into a job I no way wanted.  BUT...God has a way about Him and yes, He won me over!  He really did a number on me this time!

Why did He choose me?  Why, oh why? 

This ordinary person (me, of course) was born in a rural Oklahoma farm house.  My dad quit school early on to help support his parents and siblings.  My mother began college (a first in her family) but succumbed to my dad's romantic ways (he bought her silk stockings and kid gloves) and they married.  I was their first child and we three began re-locating immediately which was to become the pattern of my life.

Michael is also an ordinary person...only he was born 'in town' in Oklahoma.  His dad was an entrepreneur...in business with his father in a bakery.  His mother graduated from a 'young lady's finishing school'.  M was their first child and never moved until he left for college. 

Nothing extraordinary occurred in our lives; that is, until we met and married.  We slowly realized we were being molded by the master creator for things we'd not dreamed of.  And of course you know that God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things.  That's for sure!
 

Never in my life did I want to be a 'celebrity' or a stand-out of any sort.  A claim to fame wasn't on my bucket list...or any list.  No way!  I was content to be M's 'dependent'. 

Somehow what I wanted wasn't in God's scheme of things; okay, I know...life is not about me...I wasn't thinking outside the box.  Should've recognized Father's way of doing things...I became a 'fast change artist'.  Oh yes!

In our own way M and I became 'celebrities'...we were older foreigners...ta-dah...star status in China. 

We hadn't asked to be assigned to a specific city or province...said we'd go where we were needed.  Two weeks prior to our departure for China the school we were originally assigned to let it be known we were 'too old' and they wouldn't have us.  Our director told us not to fret; he'd find us another school that would love to have us...and he did.  God work!
                         

                Aah...another school?  Yes, yes!  But let me tell you, the first morning in China?  I was up early to look out our hotel windows and see what our surroundings looked like in the daylight.  Yikes!  Couldn't see much of anything...a gray smog gave everything an eerie look...like something out of this world.
I looked a long time; then asked God just one question. 
Why are we here?
  

The next day, when we moved into our campus apartment, we had four visitors from the English department...one was Debbie.

She said, "I believe you're a Christian, aren't you?"

The next day she returned w/a book for us and said, "I know why you're here."  Oh, how is that?  "God has sent you, I've been waiting."  Indeed, He had...God work!

God had given us the answer to my question,
'what in the world are we doing here?' 

Our campus apartment was located in what I'd call 'a fish bowl'. 

The other teachers lived in a compound far removed from us; called the 'Red House', situated in a beautiful green area
but behind a fence w/posted guards who checked visitors in/out.

 

M & I were surrounded by a wall w/gates but no guard; no one seemed interested in who came and went; seems God was our monitor...24/7!

 

We were situated in the middle of a plaza...across from the cafeteria, shower/laundry building.  The students had no bath facilities in the dorms so they rotated shifts taking showers in the building shown here (looking out our bedroom window).

 

Freshmen are required to perform

daily military drills for several weeks prior to the start of their semester classes.  Much of this was conducted in the square just outside our gated apartment...our windows provided a sight!

 

 

 

A life-changing lesson for me is this...I couldn't stay where I was and go with God; it takes change on my part...changing the opening quote of this post a bit...in any moment a decision I make can change the course of my life forever; it could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open,

and all of the things that I've been waiting for fall into place.  Worth the wait?  I know it was and is!

 

Next post:  Strange Places...Strange Names!

 

From my heart...to yours,

Vasca