SOZO Real: Month #7: Spontaneity

One thing I love about this whole LA journey is that most of the times I have no idea what’s ahead. One: because I don’t have a car and can’t just get up and go places. And Two: I don’t know many people here to hang out with. For example, sometimes my co-workers will ask, “have any plans for this weekend?” and my answer 95% of the time is “no” lol, which makes me sound so lame haha. But, I am usually fine with never having weekend plans, because almost 80% percent of the time they are filled with unexpected joys and adventure.

One weekend my co-worker asked me on Friday if I wanted to go with her and her roommate to the beach that next day. On the spot, I agreed to go. So, that next day the three of us went go get her car inspected at the mechanic, and walked to the nearby Olive Garden during the five hour wait. To keep busy during the wait, my co-worker thought about the best idea of buying books from target and reading on the beach. Perfect! So we did that- the book buying. However, if you know Target, you know what a trap that is lol. We spent more time and money in there than anticipated. We then went to get her car and drove to Manhattan Beach, only to catch the last 30 minutes of light and watch the sun set into the ocean. Beautiful unplanned day.

Then, a few weeks later it turned January 30^th- one of my favorite days of the year! Can you guess it? My birthday haha! 😉 The days leading up to this day, my friends, fam, and roommates asked me what I was doing for my birthday and my answer, once again, was along the lines of “I don’t know. We’ll see what the day brings.” As much of my time in LA has shown me that God writes my days, I was trusting that the day would unfold as He sought fitting. The day consisted of church, and as I was leaving church I made eye contact with a girl about my age and I introduced myself to her. I mentioned that I had only been going to the church for a few months and she suggested that I join her and her friend for lunch. So, I went and at the end of lunch I found myself sitting at a table with a candlelit bowl of complementary ice cream while I sang along to the birthday song these girls were singing to me. Haha! What a scene! Here I was celebrating my birthday with the girls, who were strangers, but such loving and kind strangers. What a way to celebrate.

Then after parting ways, I took the bus to a rose garden. However, my plans changed to taking a relaxing walk through the campus of University of Southern California just across the street and it was such a sweet time of just walking aimlessly wherever my feet took me exploring the campus and enjoying the outdoors. I loved it. And my day ended with cake cutting and another run through of the birthday song by my roommates. Overall, it was such a spontaneous and peaceful day, but I felt so much delight knowing God was with me even in the simplicity and spontaneity of the day.

A week later, I did my usual of Ubering to church. Determined to (finally) be on time to church, I scheduled my Uber early, but my driver canceled last minute. So, although I was definitely delayed, I got a new uber driver. After greeting my new driver, he asked, “So, you’re going to Angeles Temple. So, it’s a temple?” I explained that it wasn’t a temple, but it was just the name of the church. He then explained how he grew up Christian and Buddhist. In the Christian church he enjoyed the choir’s singing, and when he wasn’t in the church his grandmother, who was a yoga instructor, would teach him the Buddhist practices and meditation. He then went on to say that he had never read the Bible, but that he planned on reading it sometime. I was very intrigued by his background and even his interest in the Bible. Towards the end of our conversation, he explained that he wanted to try out my church and see what it’s about. My experiences with Uber have opened up numerous cool opportunities to meet cool people and even share a little about Jesus!

In all my time here, I’ve been learning more and more to trust God with writing the story of my life, not only in the big extravagant plans, but even day to day. I don’t know what each day holds, but I’ve been growing in trusting that He has already mapped it out. And in that, I’ve seen the faithfulness of God so much and His kindness through it all. I’m realizing as I often “let the wind lead me” that it’s so worth it to be spirit-led… even in the little things like what to do for fun and where to go. I’ve been coming to realize His way is the best way and He has the best in mind if we trust Him… even in the tough times.

-Brittany Prada 🌞✌