I'm borrowing part of my title from this devotion from Proverbs 31 ministry. It's over a week old, but I just read this last night and it really stuck with me. The message in this devotion is really good and a small bit of it can relate to my nephew's blog post about Support Your Troops. Quoting from the Proverbs 31 devo, "Look around you. Is there someone in your life, your family or your church that you consider "damaged goods"? Don't miss an opportunity to reach out to them, to love them. You just might find a friendship that is good...and sweet."
Anyway, what stuck with me, from this devo, was the part about not living the life I dreamed of as a kid. This message was also repeated at our church last night, when a missionary from Gabon Africa spoke about her calling and when she knew that she had to go into the mission field. I'll get into more detail momentarily.
I don't normally talk about my faith, I kind of keep it to myself - afraid you'll judge me, call me a Bible thumper or something like that - but I'm going to step out in faith and hope that you'll still keep reading, despite if I get preachy. I don't mean to be, and if you know me, you know it's not like me to be preachy.
Back on topic... The message at church was that this girl felt God was calling her in high school, to go into missions. When it was time for college, she knew she had to do something to make a difference. I'm not exactly what kind of doctor she is, but she's at the Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, Africa (as I mentioned earlier), serving God as He called her to do when she was younger.
I often think about what I was called to do. I grew up in a Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and they have an all girls group that was called Calvinettes. I believe I was in 6th grade when they decided to pair us up with an adult to be kind of our mentor, friend, whatever it was called. My mentor was a woman at our church who did the Sign Language for one deaf lady, which I thought was really cool.
I used to help out in nursery and I always felt bad because I could not communicate with the deaf mother when she came to pick up her daughter. She was hard to understand and I felt I had to talk slow and loud (cause that helps, right?), so she could understand me.
Anyway, by the time I went to college, I knew I wanted to work with the disabled, afterall, I had worked 7 years at a residential facility for the handicapped and loved my work. Special Ed was my declared major going into school. Part of the reason I chose the school I went to was because their education program put me in the classroom one day a week as a teacher aid...I hated it! I was in a regular classroom of 30 kindergartners...I just wanted to play with them and could not teach them how to write the letter B - I mean it's really not that hard, is it? Well, obviously, I realized that I did not have the patience for teaching. I changed my major to computer programming - figuring there's good money there...you really need some serious math skills there - something I lacked. I went one semester undeclared, then transferred schools to go into Speech Pathology. I didn't do very well in Phoenetics, and really the only reason I went into Speech Pathology was because I could take Sign Language 1 & 2, that was the right reason, wasn't it? Needless to say, I changed my major again, to English, which is what I ultimately got my degree in.
After graduating from college, I moved half way across the country to IL, from NJ, in case you didn't already know that.
After getting a job as an editorial assistant/production editor, I realized I wanted to do more than just rewrite press releases, so I changed jobs, where I would have the opportunity to write more articles. I was there for 1.5 years when I began to reconsider my career choice, sign language always coming to the forefront of my mind. September 2000, I was registered for classes at Harper College for Sign Language. I took 3 semesters of classes - although in October 2000, my now husband, proposed. I took 2 classes in the Spring semester, then the wedding in July and I never went back.
A year ago I was unemployed and considering going back to school for Special Ed again. But, again, Sign Language kept coming up. My sister asked me, what will make you happy? I remember when I was taking Sign Language classes, I was happy. I still catch myself signing sometimes. I know I still remember a bunch of stuff. Weird thing is, I'll be in my car, listening to the radio and I'll just start trying to sign the song on the radio, same thing happens at church (although I don't do full hand motions, but you can see my hands moving ever so slightly - I mean, I don't want to draw attention to myself). :)
Early last week on the KLove morning show, Lisa (one of the DJs) was talking about how in her daughter's dance class there is a deaf mom, if she hadn't taken some sign language classes, she would not be able to talk to this other mother. How learning sign language opened this door for her and how she doesn't have to alienate this mother because she can communicate with her.
So, to tie it all together, the devo, the sermon and the message on the radio continue to convict me that I am not doing what I was called to do. What were you called to do? Or, the more secular question, which applies no matter how old you are: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Some verses from last night's sermon:
I Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Matthew 4:16: the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
Matthew 4:23: Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Matthew 4:23 is what the mission of the Bongolo Hospital is - to follow and do as Jesus did in this verse.
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