I want to tell you about God leading me on crazy adventures while here in Gainesville, GA. Last weekend it had been raining for what seemed like forever, and so I decided that I could no longer stay in the house, no matter rain or shine, I just had to get out. I am new to Georgia so, I needed to see the area, right? Right! I was telling my friend Tim about this and he asked if he could join in on the adventurous day.
So, we got in the car and it was a raining just like it had been every other day of last week and the plan was just to drive, no destination in mind because we hadn’t looked anything up. Just to enjoy spontaneity and drive.
We hadn’t been driving for even 15 minutes when Tim pointed at a location and said we should stop. We went inside the thrift store and it turns out that they were giving food away. On our very low-income budget, the ministry of them giving loaves of bread and canned goods away seemed like an awesome gift to bless us with (some of the food pictured below). We talked for a little while and discovered that they used the profits from the thrift store to run the food pantry. They have been doing it for some time now and we left thanking God for directing our path into this store.
We then continued the journey and drove for some time taking random roads, stopping at the Cabbage Patch Kids Hospital being beyond confused as to why we would ever stop, slightly disappointed it wasn’t a hospital that dolls with broken legs, arms, etc came to be fixed (I mean it is October, Halloween anyone?) all while being thankful we didn’t adopt a child. And with that we continued to drive through the North Georgia Mountains, just laughing at the randomness of the day continuing to enjoy the scenery God placed in front of us.
It was time to have a coffee break, so we stopped at this really unique place on the side of the road. You know one of those places you just can’t tell if it is going to be really good or really bad. It was called Johnson’s Downda Earth Café & Bakery. Let’s just say it was awesome!We got there and the waitress that came to greet us was incredibly friendly and talkative. Tim enjoyed a French press coffee and I had a special apple spiced tea with a cold glass of milk.
As we started to pay the waitress asked us a little more about what we were doing here in Georgia. As Tim was saying we both have just finished the World Race a girl on the other side of the small coffee shop jumps up. She is so excited!! She introduces herself to us as Hannah. Tim finishes the conversation with the waitress, and Hannah begins to invite me to her church near where I live in Gainesville. We all talked together for some time and then finished our time praying for each other before going our separate ways.
Sunday came and I decided to visit the church Hannah told me about. The whole entire car ride I was back and forth about visiting a different church than the one I had already started going to. I had told myself that I only had a 9 more Sundays here in Georgia and I shouldn’t move from church to church. I should stick with one and that is it. Well, I literally pulled over and prayed on the way there that God would bless my time at this church. I felt like He had literally sent someone to redirect my path the day before and I should listen. So, after missing the turn and arriving at church, Hannah (who we didn’t get contact info the day before) pulled in right beside me and said Hello. We laughed at how awesome God’s timing had been, and we walked inside. She began introducing me to what seemed like everyone. I am not going to lie to you, as soon as they started playing worship music I knew this was home. They had a mandolin, guitar, and hymnals they had typed up and printed for the service. The majority of the songs were from the 1800’s. I was just ecstatic and couldn’t believe that God had directed my path to bring me to this church. The service was great and the pastor was just overall vulnerable about his life, which is always motivational. After the service Hannah said, “Come with me. I want to introduce you to someone,” which at this point I didn’t think much of. She introduced me to a guy named Clay Naylor. After talking some at church and later in the week we figure out that our grandfathers are brothers. We both have been beyond amazed at this and it is just really encouraging to know that without meeting Hannah I might not have ever met my second cousin.
I say all of this to say I don’t like Gainesville. I LOVE it here, and God has been directing my steps in some incredible ways. I could keep writing about the stories, but here is just a glimpse into several hours of two days from last week. God seriously has perfect timing and let’s just say He was for sure my GPS this week.
Everyone have a great week letting God direct your path wherever you may be!
Please consider donating to keep me here in Georgia, I am now 1,100 away from being fully funded. You can donate by clicking the support me tab above! Or mail checks to
Adventures in Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
(put my name on the memo line, checks made out to Adventures in Missions)
Much Love and until next time,
Courtney 🙂
