Transitional Thursdays -- Not a Fan of Vanilla

It’s been a while since I wrote about the transition. It seems as if the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing in corporate America. They had one team reviewing the facilities and whether or not we were going to need them, and yet another group revising how we would do our jobs and from where we would do them. That’s right – they didn’t know about each other. So, while it may look good temporarily that my position is supposed to remain in the field, but if you go by the other study, I don’t have an office to pee in (hahaha).

Transitions happen in every area of our lives. Right now, Patrick is working in Arkansas. He’s been up there since the beginning of May, and we aren’t sure when he’ll be home to stay. When he’s home, it is oh so nice and comforting. When he’s not home, we are good, but we miss him.

Then I think about the calling God has put on my life…women’s ministry full time. There are times that I’m very thankful that I don’t work in the church. It would be like another career or job in a boy’s club but different. That probably makes no sense, but when I started in SIU, there weren’t many women in the field. It’s just a different feel than what it is today because there are more women in my field than before. Women have a natural instinct for it. But church work…I just don’t know. At least by doing women’s ministry on the side, I don’t feel like I have to break through the glass ceiling in the evangelical church. By not being on staff in the church, I can focus solely on ministering to the women God has called me to lead and minister to. And fortunately, I'm blessed to do this in a church that I love. As for full time status, I’m used to working in a diverse corporate culture which isn’t found in the evangelical church unfortunately. Who knows? Maybe one day that will change. Only God knows for sure.

For now, I am thankful for the opportunities God has provided me to encourage, to pray for, to minister to, and to love on the women of Calvary. Women who are going through divorce, grief, difficult marriages, child rearing – I love ministering to them. I love introducing them to other godly women who can encourage them in their walk and give them godly counsel. I love encouraging our women to have church outside the walls of Calvary. Our women are plugging into different ministries around town loving on the people God created…a diverse people. I’m so thankful that God didn’t just create vanilla. How boring that would be, even though that is my son’s favorite flavor. (Personally, I’m a Rocky Road or Happy Trails kind of ice cream person.) I’m thankful that in His great wisdom He gave all the spiritual gifts to all who believe…women and men, white, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc. He didn’t give some of the gifts to one part of the population and another gift to another. We are to exercise the gifts God gave us.

Won't it be great when we all get to heaven and there is no religion to separate us? Won't it be great when we all get to heaven and worship Him together -- male and female, all races and all believers?

So, I’m not anxious about the calling God has put on my heart. He is bigger. He is in control. I am just responsible for being obedient. He's responsible for everything else.

I will not be anxious about whether or not I will or will not have a job come the end of the year because humans in corporate don’t know what the left hand is doing. He is bigger. He is in control.

I will eagerly await the day that my husband feels like we are where we need to be fiscally in order to return to working in Shreveport daily instead of out of town. I know God has this under control too.

Sooo, Transitional Thursdays will probably not be an ongoing event on my blog, but every now and then I may have to reaffirm my faith that God is in control, and I’ll blog then on this subject. Thanks for being patient as I work through these things. It’s all in the journey He has set before me, and while I may feel like I’m going at it blind, I know He knows the way, and He will not forsake me (Is 42:16).