Destination: San Diego (Part 1)
At some point a few months ago I started dreaming about how great it would be to take a vacation. While going to conferences is certainly great, I love the sightseeing, exploring and adventuring that comes with traveling somewhere for pleasure. I really didn’t think it was going to happen though, or at least that we wouldn’t end up going anywhere very far away or exciting. There are just far too many other things we need to do with our financial resources.
So, when Tony announced to me about a month ago that he had gotten a paper accepted to the American Chemical Society national conference in San Diego this March, I couldn’t help but be jealous! He was going to go somewhere warm in the middle of winter, even if it was more of a “business trip.” After voicing this sentiment aloud, Tony mentioned that maybe I could go too! Since the cost of his hotel room, airfare and meals are reimbursable to the university, we would only have to pay for my airfare and food. Madeline is young enough that she could come along for free!
It sounded like a wonderful idea. I would have time to do some sightseeing and exploring on my own, and we would be able to do some things together at night or in between sessions Tony would be interested in attending at the conference. But would even spending a few hundred dollars be wise? We left for our Christmas travels with that question still unanswered.
When we arrived home from the Faithwalkers conference, I found in the mail a card from my mom with a very generous gift enclosed. I had told her about the possibility of this trip while we were in Minnesota, and she wanted to help make it a reality for us without us having to strain our finances. My mom and step-dad had just refinanced their mortgage and got to skip a monthly payment as a part of the deal — they decided to pass this financial blessing on to us in the form of a gift to help us take this vacation.
On the way home from the conference I had just been stressing about God’s provision. Could I really trust Him to provide things that my heart desired, even if some of them were “unecessary” things like taking a vacation? I often fear that in the cause of doing what God wants me to do, I’ll be asked to give up all the little pleasures in life. And while I know I need to be willing to give up whatever He asks of me, His provision for me to take a vacation reminded me that isn’t just all about making things difficult to grow my character. 