C.Ryenne Thoughts

This post is going to be a little different than my others.

Instead of talking about what God is teaching me, I am going to tell you all what He has done in my life the past few months.

I debated on typing this up and posting it, because I do not want it to seem like I am boasting…but I do want to boast about my God. (Because WOW is He amazing)

I have always had the desire to travel around the world and see as much as I could. Last fall, I started thinking about planning a trip for the summer after I graduated college (aka this summer). Although I thought about it, I never put any action into it.

In the beginning of January, I texted a friend, who I met through a whole other God story, and asked if she would want to travel Europe with me this summer. She is from the Czech Republic so I figured it would be easy to meet up with her and she said yes!

As I began trying to plan our trip, I kind of jokingly prayed “Lord, it’s in my will to travel…if it’s in yours, can you please make it easy?” and He for sure did. (Definitely not in the way I expected though)

A couple days after that, I facetimed my friend from Czech just to catch up. We ended up talking about traveling and miraculously had a plan in 20 minutes.

I was already going to Jordan/Israel for my final leadership conference with my church, so I figured it would be best for me to fly to Europe from Israel instead of coming back to the States.

My friend had prior commitments and a family vacation so we wouldn’t be able to travel to where we wanted until the beginning of July. I offered to find somewhere else to stay in the meantime so she could do her thing and be with her family. Instead, she had texted her parents asking if I could come stay with them and go on vacation with them…and they said yes!

So not only was I getting to spend a week in Jordan and Israel, but then I was going to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, and then wherever else we wanted to travel in July.

All of this was so exciting, but then on January 26th I was on my way to a women’s retreat for my church and got rear-ended an hour away from my destination (Destin, FL).

My first car accident and I am 6 hours from home. Luckily, everyone involved was very kind and my car, although smashed, was still drivable.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had to deal with insurance/claims/reports for a car accident before, but I was extremely stressed. It took 4 days to get the police report. I filed a claim as soon as I got it, and the process started that week.

They did a virtual inspection and said they were going to fix my car as well as send me money for inconvenience. The automobile industry is really going through it right now, so I was not able to schedule a body shop date until March 27th.

The insurance company would not provide a rental car in the meantime, so I had to drive my smashed car with a sheet of plastic/duct tape on the back for two months. Talk about a lesson in patience.

Finally, I took my car in and got a rental car. Two weeks later I received a call from insurance. The shop had requested someone to come inspect the car. The woman that called me was the best insurance person that I dealt with. She was very brutally honest and just said, “Hey, so I took a look at your car today and it’s totaled. We’re not going to fix it.”

She told me her estimate was already above the value of my car and that she had to get the final amount approved by two of her higher-ups before they would pay me for it. So, then the search for a new car began and I did not have a lot of time to do so.

I don’t even remember how long I spent researching cars, but I found a couple that I liked. I went and looked at one car at Ford but did not like it very much. My top car choice was at Nissan. I put in my information for an inquiry at Nissan while I was in the Ford parking lot – not even five minutes later I got a call from Nissan.

I went and looked at the car that day. The sales guy told me we could sign the paperwork that day. Once I got the money from insurance, I could bring them a check and they would give me the keys.

I had a general idea of how much I could put down on the car.

When I was in my meeting with the finance guy at Nissan, I got a call from insurance telling me exactly how much I was getting. I already had signed the paperwork for the downpayment, and insurance offered me way more than I thought for my car.

Basically, the money that I was not using for a downpayment was more than enough to travel with. God not only provided a plan, but He also provided the finances. The money I got for inconvenience covered all my flights and the remaining balance of my Israel trip. The rest is going towards everything else.

I am typing this as I am waiting for my flight to Jordan, and it is unbelievably amazing how much the Lord has done in just the past few months.

He is a provider. He is a protector. He cares so much about me and loves me unconditionally, although I absolutely do not deserve it.

During this trip, I will be going to Jordan, Israel, Czechia, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Italy, and Germany. I will be posting as much as I can on the Travel tab of my blog! Subscribe if you want to be notified whenever I post.

This testimony, although long, is a huge reminder to me that our God is faithful. He knows the desires of our hearts and if they align with Him, then He will provide.

I truly know now to never doubt or underestimate my God.

-C. Ryenne

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do for you, for this sums up the Law of the Prophets.” Matthew 6:7-12