Lesson One: Just Breathe

A very wise person once told me to take the next two days to purposefully avoid job hunting, and instead, to Google "living in nyc"...

Yes, this happened about two hours ago.  For the past four months, I've been performing in Hershey, PA ("The Sweetest Place on Earth") at the famous Hersheypark, singing and dancing twenty shows a week for enthused theme park audiences.  These four months have simultaneously been a time of preparation for the big move to New York City, a move that, four years ago, I would have said was still "up in the air for me".  New York City, The Great White Way, is the place for aspiring actors to plant themselves; but up until about six months ago, I may have denied the city's theatrical mecca for fear of its overwhelming landscape, chaotic way of life, and altogether urban lifestyle, unfamiliar to this Midwestern girl.  The Lord, over time and prayer, made it increasingly clear that New York City was, indeed, an option for me.  So, sixty job applications and various other preparations later, here I am, counting down the ELEVEN days until I move myself to a brand new place.  It's surreal.

Earlier tonight, my incredibly strong, honest, and gentle boyfriend reminded me of just that: I have two weeks left to enjoy my time in Hershey.  Two weeks to breathe in the fresh air, to have my coffee in the morning and see the lush greenery out my window, to work out at 8am because I'm not called to the park until 11, to laugh with my cast and perform a corny, wonderful show, to be home by 430 and use the evening to be productive and rest.  Two weeks.  Tonight's lesson is indeed JUST BREATHE.

Breathing does not come easily to me.  Most of the time, I'm too busy trying to control my circumstances to breathe.

But, the Lord commands us numerous times in Scripture to trust Him.  These four months, He has been developing within me an understanding of what it truly means to trust.  Not just surrender with my mind, but trust with my heart.  


Psalm 9:10 
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.


I have also been reminded lately of all the blessings I have been given, throughout my life and in preparing for this new step.  The Lord has never once forsaken me.  What an amazing God we serve.  


I tell myself tonight, as I lay down to sleep, to JUST BREATHE.  Breathe in the blessings, breathe in hope, breathe in joy, and then breathe out, and release it all to the One who knows best.  JUST BREATHE.