Mysterious Ways

God works in mysterious ways sometimes.

There are many times I sit in awe of what God is doing. There are other times where I throw my hands up in the air and think, 'what are you doing?'

When I was interviewing for assistantships, I spoke with this woman, Jan. She had an assistantship in her office of assessment. Although I wasn't too thrilled about the position itself (not that the job was bad, just very removed from students, and lots of assessment (which I already knew I'd be doing in the program)) BUT I was extremely excited about the opportunity to work with Jan. For whatever reason, I knew she valued people, would help create the experiences I desired, and would be a wonderful supervisor.

Well, I didn't get that assistantship.

Instead, I have an assistantship working in the student center. Having never worked with any sort of student union, it'll be a good opportunity to learn. Additionally, my office is just down from the dean, I have interaction with some students, and there's the ability to create my own job description (all wonderful things).

So I started on a Tuesday. My supervisor left (I mean left left) on Friday. The next Tuesday, my new supervisor was announced. On Friday, she moved in.

If you haven't guessed it yet...Jan is the interim...and my temporary supervisory. I couldn't have been more thrilled when they announced it!

...

So...God story number 2.

When I was looking for places to live, you may remember I decided to live on campus and the whole hoopla of securing my spot. Well, I had been in contact with this woman Mallory. A friend of mine in the program (Larry-2nd year) had someone in his cohort (Danny) that knew someone (Mallory) who was looking for a roommate too. Random, I know. So Larry put me in contact with Mallory. After a few emails back and forth, it seemed as though we may get along, although how much can you truly know through email. Well, after I had decided to go with on campus housing (and secured a place), I get an email from Mallory saying she's decided to go solo this year (phew). But we agree to meet up for coffee after we're both moved in.

A few weeks ago, Mallory shoots me an email saying she's moving in and that she'd like to schedule coffee. She informs me that she is living in on campus housing. (Insert random laugh here ps she didn't know I was also living on campus) Then she tells me that she's in the building next to mine (Insert confused look and thoughts of where her apartment is)

Literally, I can see her apartment door from mine (when the tree in the courtyard is trimmed).

Mallory and I soon meet up for dinner. Here are some of the things we talk about.

• We both like the outdoors
• She has her master's degree in higher education from UGA so she knows all my program faculty
• She's been working in a leadership development program
• We both finished our masters in 2005
• She's not married and about the same age
• She's a Christian

And the list goes on and on. We joked that we lived parallel lives. But really, it's just another reminder of God's provision for me along this journey.

I was reflecting the other day about this transition as opposed to the last, and surprisingly this one has been smoother. This may be in part because I'm not deathly ill three weeks into moving, but for whatever reason, I'm grateful. I know this journey to PhD will be a tough and long (roughly over 1000 days) road, but I'm so thankful for reminders that God is with me and watching out for all the details.