God’s got a Plan For You. Do You Trust Him?

God’s got a Plan For You. Do You Trust Him?

One year ago, I drove from Atlanta to DC by myself for a summer internship.

The trip was simple.

I planned an overnight stop in North Carolina, which meant I would drive about 4.5 hours each day. DC is ridiculously expensive, and I didn’t have a cushy hotel set up for me like the first time I went. I struggled to find housing primarily because I was terrified by the idea of living in someone’s basement.

I grew up fairly sheltered, so I preferred to have a place to myself—and I quickly found an AirBnB listing that met my needs.
I ran my travel plans through my head several times in the days before my trip, but none of that controlled the fear that ravaged my body that morning.

I had been living with my godparents, who had graciously opened their home to me when I moved to Atlanta, and I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE. My body couldn’t move. I couldn’t eat breakfast. All I wanted to do was cry and quit the program that allowed me to pursue a Masters degree debt free.

I didn’t know what waited for me in DC, and I didn’t want to find out. 
Through God’s grace, though ungraceful, I endured twisting hunger pains and screaming waves of nausea to make the 10-ish hour trip to my AirBnB. I stopped often, yearning to turn around in defeat. At my worst moment, my mom asked my Sunday School teacher to pray with me and ask God to give me the final push I needed on the second day. 

My trip was over, but my nightmare wasn’t. Mother’s Day was two days after I arrived and one day before I would start my internship. Fear overwhelmed my body, and I knew I lacked the strength to continue. I had nothing to be afraid of. I was safe, I had food, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was alone. My parents lived 1000 miles away, and I desperately wanted them with me. I cried and begged them to come save me.

Life in DC

Things improved for me as I settled into my life in DC, but that only lasted three weeks. My 10-week reservation was abruptly cut short when my host asked me to leave. She was breaking her lease by subletting her apartment, and she told me I had to get out or she’d lose her home.

Without my knowledge, she asked AirBnB to charge me an additional $2000 for the three weeks I had already spent (making her total asking price nearly $5000 for one month in a one-bedroom apartment). This happened on May 31, a Friday, and she gave me until noon on Sunday to get out. I didn’t have enough money to stay in the cheapest hotel for seven weeks, and I needed a miracle to get me out of that situation. 

I called AirBnB at least 10 times that weekend, but my tearful cries for help were futile. My boss knew that my housing situation was shaky, and he asked his bosses if either could take me in on short notice. (I had met his bosses the Friday I was kicked out).
They separately said yes (one had a “but,” we’ll get to that later). I reluctantly accepted. I felt uneasy staying in a stranger’s house; I didn’t know what to expect. The first boss drove a long way to help me move out that next morning. He and his wife welcomed me in their home, and I was to switch to the other boss’s house after a week. 
I didn’t want that.

I Have a Plan but so does God.

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I had a plan in my head that I wanted God to follow. I wanted God to swoop in and carry me to a perfect hotel or apartment that was cheap and super-close to my job. I did not want to live an hour from my job with people I didn’t know very well, and I was mad I was going through this in the first place. I picked a new church to visit, since the church I had been going to was nearly two hours away, and I chose the second service because I’m not an early riser. 

I woke up around 6 that Sunday morning, so I grudgingly attended the church’s first service. I took a seat in the front of the church, and I prayed and wept for most of the service. I needed God to save me. He had to make everything right and bring me a miracle home (He did exactly that when I was in college—surely He was going to do it in that exact way). I asked God to speak into my situation, to speak an impossible miracle into existence.

The words I was praying became the song the choir sang, a song I still haven’t found again. I felt His peace console me, and He reassured me that everything was going to be alright.

Later in the service, I rose to use the restroom, and I heard my name as I walked down the aisle.
“Mikaila…! Hey, Mikaila!”

It was just above a whisper, and I was certain I was hearing the voice of God. I turned and I saw a woman whose face I vaguely knew.
She was the second boss. 

God’s Plan in Motion

I could have picked from dozens of churches in the area (I had almost gone to another service at the same church!). God’s plan for me was in motion already, but I still didn’t acknowledge it.

For two days I hoped for God to work things out in a different way. I thought I knew what was best for me, and I allowed my heart to lead me in rebellion and book a hotel I could barely afford “just in case.” He didn’t have to interrupt my schedule and have me meet the second boss that Sunday (because I was already going to be in her house), but He did it to quell my fears.

I moved again into the home of another couple I didn’t know very well, and I became their daughter for seven weeks. 
I want to continue to describe how good those weeks were, but know I lived “Happily Ever After.”

God’s Plan are Always Good, Even When we Can’t See it

Thinking back on this story brings tears to my eyes for two main reasons. I didn’t know God could be so good to me, who long trembled at the thought of admitting I’m a Christian to a perfect stranger. I also didn’t realize how deep kindness could extend, and I now pray to be filled with that same love that Christ has, longing for the opportunity to give that gift to someone else (which was all my DC family asked of me in return).

During this “quaran-time,” I’m seeking that moment of prayer again. That Sunday, June 2, 2019, I admitted that I was powerless, and I exchanged fear for peace. I’m so happy that God is patient with me and that He’s near no matter how far away I am from home.

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Written by Mikaila Daniel. A part time writer, full time Christian, Mikaila is learning to navigate her life post-college by leaning on God and focusing on His will for her life.