footprints and mountain climbers

I feel like so much has happened so I need to do a quick update.

I've graduated: I am a Physician Assistant with a Masters in Medical Sciences.
We applied to rent a house.
I found a job that I'm just finalizing papers with.
...did I mention I graduated?

while that only takes up a few lines. its several years in the making. I've been in school my whole life and towards the end of high school I decided I wanted to be a PA. I had a lot of people tell me:
-you should be a doctor instead- no thanks.
-you won't get in without working as a nurse/emt/other healthcare professional (they were wrong)
-you should get your phD instead- no thanks.
-you won't like living 3 hours away from home- they were wrong...


and now here I am in a hotel in Texas as my best friend has her first day of work as an engineer and I'm stricken with the fact that I'm done. I think its the first time thats really sunken even though graduation was like 5 days ago.

and I have to say. I couldnt' have done it alone. I couldn't have done it without the strong support of my husband and the overwhelming abundance of blessings and provision from God. The first really is part of the latter.

Honestly- from giving me a seat in the program....to helping me get through the 2.5 years with many surgeries for skin issues...and many recoveries...and many moments where I felt like I couldn't do it...God got me through. You know that story with the footprints in the sand and at the end it's like "when you see one set of footprints it was then I carried you?" ...
God didn't just carry me: At times I feel like He dragged me kicking and screaming and at other times I feel like He carried my hopeless self the next couple steps and threw me in the water with a loving sentiment of "sinking isn't an option you better swim." And I did with His help: I just kept swimming. And in the middle of the program He threw me a curveball: an amazing husband. And I am so thankful for Paul and the blessing he has been in my life.

I don't know if you watched the Price is Right ever...but when I was a kid (and maybe still) there was a mountain man on there.

source

This little mountain man you watched on the show as he climbed up this giant mountain as part of a game. A person is shown several small prizes and is asked to guess the retail amount. There are 25 steps to the mountain and the climber goes up 1 step for ever dollar the guess is off. If the climber falls over before the person guesses correctly the prices then the contestant looses the game. While I wouldnt' say the game it self really correlates with my experience the idea of this mountain, and this little yodeling mountain man slowly climbing up is very accurate. And now I'm at the top of one very big mountain I've been climbing and yet at the bottom of the mountain of my career. It's an interesting place to be and one that leaves me both amazed at how far of come and a little unsure of if I know enough to climb the next mountain. I have my PANCE exam in 16 days and so I have a lot of studying to do. 

In summary: I am so thankful for the accomplishments that I have reached, but I definitely wouldn't be here without the God. I am so thankful to Him for His unfailing love of me and help with pursuit of such an amazing goal that He put on my heart so long ago. He worked all things together and in that process I learned so much more about Him and about love. So excited to see what He has planned next. 

Be praying for me friends and let me know how I can pray for you. 

Love,

Anita

one of the newest Physician Assistants :) 

A lesson in Faith from a Ford Fusion

So I take my car to the dealership to get an oil change and I mention that one of my tires has been saying it needs air even when I put it in but it hasn't gone flat. So we get there and the guy is like the whole side wall of your tire is cracked and there is a nail in it. The fact it didn't blow out is a miracle they tell me. So they tell me than can patch the nail, but that the wall of the tire could fail and I should know that. They tell me they can do 1 tire, 2, 3, or 4. Now I should tell you those tires have been on my car since I bought it (its at about 40,000 miles and I bought it with 37  agree to fix it but they say they don't have the tires and will send me home in a rental until tomorrow. Tires are expensive and that sucks but I decided to do all 4 because I needed them anyway in the next 5000 miles. So they call me today saying something happened and they can't get my tires until tuesday but they will give me better tires and charge me less if thats ok with me. can we talk about God working things out. also the guy who helped me yesterday used to work at Miami hospital as a scrub tech for like 20 years and knew exactly what I was doing as a PA student and was such a help. He kept saying "everything happens for a reason"

I gotta tell you friends. Just this morning I was thinking about when I got the car... and how God worked out me getting a really nice car at a crazy low price and worked out all the details. I have to tell you, I'm spoiled with the car He gave me and I realized that yesterday as I drove away in my rental 2013 ford focus. I realized the difference in the leather in the car, the difference in the size, how smoothly my 6 cylinder sports car drives.  I've offered to trade it in for a less expensive car countless times as I sometimes feel guilty for having such a nice car when people don't have food, or clothes or homes. But yesterday God showed me how that was a gift He gave me, and it's not wrong to accept a gift from my heavenly Father.  I was thinking as I was driving this morning that I missed my gift and couldn't wait to get it back from the dealership. I thought about how God knew me when He gave me that car- He knew me better than I knew myself because the car I affectionately call Grace was not one I thought I wanted at all and yet God was so clear that that was the car and this was the price and here's someone to buy your old honda civic. 

So this morning when my phone rings I'm worried because it's a number I don't recognize but I know its from where the car dealership is. It's a gentleman named Anthony who tells me my tires (which were going to cost me $745 for 4 (hello sports car tire price)... that they weren't available until Tuesday (let me tell you how much my schedule wouldn't allow me to make it to the dealership by 5 on Tuesday). I took a deep breath as Anthony continued. He goes on to say they are going to upgrade my tires for free, not going to charge me labor or to mount the tires, and they are going to let me pay $700 for 4 tires that are over $200 each. 

In what world does that happen? 

Let's recap:

1. My original tire should have blown out. Getting to the dealership was a miracle.

2. The tires I picked they were already giving me a deal on 

3. They are giving me better tires for a lower price. Seems backwards. 

And it was as if this whole time God has been saying to me : LOOK I show you time and time again I know what I'm doing. You seem to have forgotten. Let me just remind you that I can work miracles big and small. I have never forsaken you. 

And my heart just replied: Father, forgive me. 

If the God of the universe can work out my tire situation, which lets be honest in the grand scheme of the worlds problem is so minor, than how much more can I trust He is going to work out my job situation, our living situation, my husbands golfing, ect. If He has proven faithful in the small things, how much more can I trust He can do the bigger things. 

So today I'll have Grace the Ford Fusion back. 

But more importantly today I was reminded of Grace. I was taught thankfulness. I was reminded to have Faith. 

A very unexpected lesson of faith from my Ford Fusion