Going outside my comfort zone

November 2023 Reflection

Since I was young, I was a very organized planner. In my free time, I would enjoy color-coding my class binders and labeling our household containers. Many of the things I wrote for my 6th grade rite of passage came to pass including my future plan to go to Stanford University and major in business.

While I have been able to use my organization and administrative gifts to help many people, I am learning how to be open-handed and flexible with my schedule and my plan. The Bible says, humans make plans, but God establishes our steps (Proverbs 16:9). There are times in my life that I have wrestled with God when things do not go the way I plan. November was a month when I opened myself to new things even if it pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

Ready to be surprised

I was invited to visit Japan in November as a scouting trip. I had no idea what we would do each day, but I decided to join the adventure. The trip was truly a gift from God. Since I was not the trip leader, I could be free like a child and enjoy the trip. College Jasmine would never sign up for a trip that did not have an outlined itinerary. Had I been so close minded, I would not have gone to Japan and learn all the things I did.

Ready to be inconvenienced

Because I had to fly back to California for my brother’s wedding, I ended up having the opportunity to connect with a precious Vietnamese missionary for a few days. Even though I was still recovering from jet-lag from Japan and in a sprint for our start-up, I really wanted to make time to be with this sister because I had been praying (patiently) for several years to connect with Vietnamese Christian churches and this was my opportunity! The timing felt a little inconvenient, but I asked God to give me the grace and strength for these days. Through this missionary, I was able to get divinely connected to ImpactConnection, a rising movement where Vietnamese-American youth are encountering the presence of God and being transformed to live worshipful & purposed driven lives! ❤️‍🔥

Ready to be spontaneous

During Thanksgiving week, I went to Irvine to visit my aunt and only had the plan of working remotely from home. On Sunday, the Holy Spirit gave me a fun idea to visit my cousins, Paris, Patrick and Dawson at UC Irvine and work from the Starbucks on campus. Because my cousins and I have a big age gap, I have not spent a lot of time with these cousins, so I was grateful to be able to visit them 🤗.