My Cup Runneth Over!

It has been two months. Two months since I started my new job, and two months since I have written a new blogpost. I acknowledge the ungratefulness of praying, publicly, for two years to get a new job and then waiting, silently, for two months after I received said new job. I apologize.  I have been waiting for the ball to drop, candid cameras to come by and say, “Gotcha!” or to realize that I had left a seemingly miserable job to discover actual misery.  So, I held my words and my gratitude in a bundle of cautious, nervous, anticipation, just in case God was trying to trick me.

Two months later, I can finally admit… I love my new job. I do. I actually genuinely love my new job. I still hate mornings, Atlanta traffic, having to work EVERY day, and  being away from my family (especially Ms. Emerson Jayne, our newest addition),  but… I love my new job. The crazy thing is, my new job is actually the job I dreamed about on the brief moments I allowed myself to live in fairyland. Since fairytales are not true and inevitably leave you disenchanted, I never stay out of reality for long. And in the real world, no one pays you to build relationships with loud, super broken, crazy women!

A little secret I always forget, I serve a God who is not bound by the “realities” of this world! The job description of my new job… to serve as the first point of contact with homeless women and children, building relationships and trust in order to help them choose help. I spend my days painting nails, teaching about God, cleaning up stuff too gross to mention, praying with weeping women, playing with wild and crazy kids, deescalating schizophrenic episodes, and serving on the front lines of God’s pursuit for hearts and souls. I am in heaven warding off the throngs of hell, and thanking God that He would choose to use me to offer hope even after I lost hope.

I am reminded of when Elijah lost hope (1 Kings 18 & 19).  After defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah finds his life in danger. He runs into the wilderness in fear. How could God honor his faithfulness by allowing the ungodly to take his life!  Hopeless and disenchanted, Elijah lays down to die.  God of course ignores Elijah’s many dramatic pleas for death and instead wakes him up, feeds him, and restores his strength.  And, when God is ready, He reveals just a whisper of His glory and Elijah is brought to his knees (1 Kings 19:12-13).

In conclusion, when the realities of this world leave you hopeless waiting to die, take heart, we serve a God who is not of this world. A God whose very whisper speaks light into the darkness, hope into the hopeless and purpose into the forgotten.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

In conclusion to my conclusion: Please be praising and thanking God with me, interceding on behalf of our team and the ladies we serve, and stay tuned for my next post: 4 Cousins and a Baby.