I really love this No Fear Just Faith series, I love how it means something different to everyone tasked with writing a piece. Today we have a blogger who I have mentioned here and here before, Melanie Blignaut,  I love her realness and her views of princesses and cartoons and I am starting to forgive her for putting that stupid bubble guppies song in my head yesterday….

In my final year of varsity, while completing my BA (Dramatic Art) at Wits, I found myself uncertain about what I wanted to do next. After four years of drama, I knew that I didn’t particularly want a career in the industry.

Those four years had challenged my faith. I never doubted God or his love for me, but I wasn’t always consistent in living out my faith. Perhaps it was because I never really rebelled as a teen, but I made a lot of mistakes in those years.

I knew, at the end of it, that I needed to be serving God and not myself.

That December, I joined a group of young adults from our church who were running a life skills workshop at a local primary school.

During that week of the workshop, I felt God nudging me toward something, and I spoke to our youth pastor. I decided to commit the next year to serving on our church’s schools ministry team. What this entailed was teaching Life Orientation at three local primary schools, as well as helping run the Friday night junior youth group and July holiday programme.

It was a good year for me.

I reconnected with church friends I had drifted from while studying, and I also grew in my faith and desire to continue serving the Lord. God also gave me the desire to use my gifts for him, so that year a friend and I wrote and directed a Christmas play at church. This play was the starting point for our church’s drama ministry.

I started my year on the schools team not knowing what the future held. I had to give up all my plans, all my concerns and simply trust that God had a plan, he was in control, and he would provide all that I needed.

My biggest lesson that year was really seeing God’s faithfulness. I had to trust him to provide my financial support, for one thing, but also in a more personal, intimate capacity. I had to trust that he had placed me on the team, that he was working in me and through me, and that he would show me the next step to take.

As I look back on my life so far, I can see how he was guiding me all along, even when I wasn’t paying attention. I can see how has used the people he brought into my life to grow me, to encourage me, and to teach me.

While I regret some of the choices I made as a student, I don’t regret studying drama or going to Wits. I made great friends there. I met my husband there. My husband and I now run our church’s drama ministry together, which just goes to show that you never know how God is going to use you and the people he places in your life. His plans for my life have been so much better than mine!