Miss Arizona Sunshine

The learning curve in this life is huge. I mean you don't get up, after reading a great book or hearing a wonderful sermon or even after talking to an inspirational Christian, and never make a mistake again. That would be wonderful, but it doesn't happen that way.

Having lost my car and having no money I was almost sure I would never find a job. Phoenix is a large city and I lived at the very north end, at the end of the highway! Having no car meant no way to get to job interviews and having no money meant...I had no money. Needing to change that, I walked to the tiny strip mall at the end of the road to beg for a job, any job.

My mind was blank. I think at this point I was finally empty; no longer full of my own ideas and grandios plans.

I wandered into a little UPS store (or something similar) to mail a letter and again my life changed. By chance, or rather by God's planning, I met Jessica Sunshine. On my second visit we discoved we were both Christians that had felt led to Phoenix by the Lord. I believe that Jessica was there, in that moment, to soften my heart. She offered her truck to me to use for job interviews; knowing I had no money for gas. What? Who does that?

Jessica took me to church, introduced me to people and invested in me. As my heart began to soften, I started a dialog with the Lord again. I began to understand that I hadn't arrived in Arizona to teach but to be taught. I had spent so much of my life running and refusing to slow down; I believe the Lord allowed me to be backed into a corner so he could finally get my attention. God wanted to start fresh with me and begin a relationship, not the hand me down one I had.

That summer I started to realize that I could no longer go through the motions with the Lord. I was a woman of value who had been devaluing her life and running from a Creator who wanted to mold her into whatever he wanted; because he made me and knows best.

That's a tough pill to swallow and I get that.

No one wants to hear, "Your life is not about you".

Our life is to about service to a King that shaped and formed the universe, everything in it, then us. After doing that he sent his Son to die for us; to be beaten to death for the very people beating him. Willingly.

Thank you Jessica Sunshine for showing me Christ's love and for helping me, through your example of sacrificial love, re-establish the most important relationship I have ever or will ever have.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ".