"INSIDE SUBMERGE" are blogs originally posted on the personal blogs of Submerge team members.
Author: Valerie Tejada
Original Post: www.simplyvalerieann.com
Valerie Tejada is a writer from Southern California. She is currently living in Ecuador to learn about different cultures, serve the locals, and grow in her writing. She is passionate about inviting women to embrace their beautiful and unique identities. Valerie has certificates in Counseling and Global Ministry. She is working on obtaining her English degree at California Baptist University. Wherever life takes her - Valerie desires to use the power of words to heal hearts.
“It’s five months, out of your whole life. And if you think about your whole life, five months is really not that many.”
A friend reminded me of this truth while I was preparing to leave the States for a life in Ecuador. I decided to do a little math. Let’s say I live until I am 85 years old. At age 22, that leaves me 63 years of life which gives me 756 months more of life. When I look at 5 months out of 756, it is extremely small. 5 months will fly by. For 5 months I was deciding to leave the comfortable for the uncomfortable. Before leaving home I felt that five months was a long time to be gone. However, I am five weeks into this adventure and I feel like it was only minutes ago that I was watching LAX disappear in my airplane window. If I am being transparent, I didn’t imagine that leaving Los Angeles would open me up to realizing that I hadn’t been owning who I’ve been created to be. There is a need in our world to fully embrace our titles and that is a one piece of the foundation for this blog. I invite you to embrace your title as I embrace mine.
Honestly, I was scared to leave the faces and the streets of my comfort zone. It wasn’t easy to think about packing up for 5 months. I had my ministry, my routine, and my yoga classes - the Starbucks baristas knew my name and order, seriously. Yet, I gave up that comfort to be obedient. When you think about it, we really aren’t designed to be comfortable are we? We are not designed to let ourselves be defiled by the lures of the world. We are designed to run towards the uncomfortable. That is where I was stuck - in comfortable - so I had to run. I ran toward the scary, the unknown, and the uncomfortable.
I wouldn’t be here unless I was confident that I needed to land in Ecuador on February 8, 2016. God didn’t send me dreams or tell me audibly that I needed to move to South America. Nevertheless, I got on that plane because I knew I that I was too comfortable in SoCal. As the plane descended I couldn’t help but be surprised because I wasn’t even thinking about moving to Ecuador three months before. I was comfortable at home; I had just had a major life change and wasn’t really considering another one anytime soon. Then my mentor asked me if I had thought about doing the semester abroad in Ecuador. I had been told about the program in the summer. I remember telling my mentor, “I think it would be a great fit for Clorissa! It sounds so incredible.” Back then I wasn’t even thinking about it for myself. I guess that is where God works – when you least expect it – he sends you. He tells you to run toward the uncomfortable. Now, months later, sipping on a latte frío in one of my favorite coffee hangs, I have no doubt that this is where I am meant to be.
I am here because there was a time when I let people define me by the words they spoke. I would allow people to tell me who to be…Be funnier. Be sweeter. Be louder. Be this. Be that. Not any more. I am Val. I am enough. Part of this blog is learning how to own my title. My title as a daughter of the King. My title as I run toward the uncomfortable. My title as a beautiful piece of art. If I believe that I am not enough then I act like I am not enough. Then I sit down in a room full of equally incredible women and believe that I need to be sarcastic in order to be noticed. But I don’t. All I need to be is to be me.
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