An Update on the Adventure

On October 10th, I posted about a new adventure God was was giving to me. On November 4th, a holiday from school for all my kids, I went through the training to be a substitute special ed. para-professional.

From my viewpoint:
I had to spend a day away from my kids to be trained for a job that was supposed to keep me on the same hours as my kids schedules. Immediately following the training, two of my kids had dentist appointments at the same time as the dr. appt for M who had a mysterious illness pop up that morning, J had gymnastics, and I still had to vote. Crazy!!! Could I possibly have heard God correctly on all this?

God's plan revealed:
What a strange "coincidence" to run into two women from our church also coming for the training. I got to spend time with them in a way I could never have dreamed up had I tried on my own strength. And all the other things fell into place like clockwork...like it was all part of a plan.

From my viewpoint:
I left the training a little discouraged that I may not get so many opportunities to actually work this new job. I was one of 20 women in the room which came as a huge shock as in the past they have been desperate to find subs for this position. Probably half of them had held this position before and were just returning for an update of information. And so, I rationalized to myself, it was really just as well to have a little bit of time to assimilate all the information and I was going to have to take D to the airport on Thursday morning anyways and my life is really quite full with plenty of things right now. It was good that I wouldn't probably get a call for awhile.

God's plan revealed:
On my way home from the airport this morning I got a call asking if I could come in as soon as possible today and also tomorrow. Amazing...

From my viewpoint: I showed up ready for action (read: prayed up and ready as I possibly could be) and was informed by one of the para-educators working with another child that the little girl I was assigned to often cried and to not be surprised if she pushed me away. Another lady confirmed this saying as soon as she would walk in the room the girl would run. A little daunting for my first go round.

God's plan revealed:
I walked in the room and the Special Ed. teacher introduced me to the class as K.'s helper for the day. I sat down in back of the mass of children who were having story time and K. immediately stood up, smiled at me and sat next to me. I had a great afternoon with her! Such an immediate connection was so confirming that God IS at work and I AM on track with what He has for me right now. And I must say, I really like looking back and seeing things from His vantage point rather then my own!!!

Leaps!

A leap off the deep end. A leap in the dark. A game of leap frog. A leap of faith.

There are all kinds of leaps. Sometimes we measure the risk before our leap. Sometimes we just jump and close our eyes and trust it will all turn out ok. Regardless, it is exciting!!

What motivates us to take these leaps?



This leap is from D's and my first weekend together. We were still friends at this point, but we both had already felt the spark of heart-recognition. My motivation was to impress D's flip flops off (as opposed to impressing his socks off, but we were at the lake) and I knew he was watching.

Yesterday morning in Bible Study we looked at Mary Magdalene and how her commitment to Jesus was pure and it was extreme. What motivated her to take that leap of dedicating her life to serving the Lord and at a level of commitment that took her to the foot of the cross and then beyond? She had been freed from her chains. (Psalm 116)

I also have been freed, though not in precisely the same way Mary was. So where does my commitment to Jesus and faith in Him need to take a giant leap?

The more I think about it, the more I am coming to believe that my faith doesn't need to take so much a giant leap as a series of baby steps. And some of those baby steps cover territory already travelled on but, unfortunately, need to be covered all over again.

Baby steps in my faith doesn't sound nearly as exciting as taking flying leaps off the cliffs of life. But in their own way, baby steps take courage and the results will be exciting even if the process itself isn't. I have all the motivation in the world to do this...I have been freed from my chains! And I know Jesus is watching and is with me as I take each and every step.