The Cave of Wonders

I know many of you are curious for an update....how is the transition going? What's next for the Tupperware? Where is Jules going to end up? The easy answer: I don't know. Here's what I do know:

September was my month of rest. No looking for jobs. No striving. Just resting and reintegrating back into North American life. As you probably remember from my blog on that, it was a very hard time for me. I am so used to doing that just being seemed unnatural, counterproductive. The Lord taught me a lot about what it means to rest in Him. To come close and listen to his voice and learn to recognize it again. He reminded me that there's nothing he loves more than to spend time with his kids.It's a lesson The only easy part about this lesson is how easy it is to forget it. I am going to have to practice this one a LOT before it becomes natural.

October rolled around and I have to admit I was excited. Here is was! The beginning of transition!! WOO HOO!! Leaves changing colors are a sign of the times. I dusted off my interview clothes and polished up my resume. Applications and online job postings here I come! During my time in The Rica this was the part of my return home I thought would be easiest. There are always speech pathology jobs open. Even in Costa Rica about once a week job openings would filter through my e-mail. I decided to scatter my seed to the wind, so to speak, and apply for any job that fit my skills and interests in pediatric feeding (both in lactation consulting and speech pathology). As some of you know, while I was in Costa Rica I completed coursework online to become certified in lactation consulting to work with nursing moms and their babies. This had been a passion area for me for a long time and it was a great time to make a transition in my career. The first week of October I called every hospital, clinic, and lactation consultant in the greater Grand Rapids area looking for anyone who would take me on to mentor me in the field. No luck. Either there were no jobs or no one who could take on an apprentice lactation consultant. Waiting. Expectant waiting.

Then break through. I decided to do a big road trip and visit my brother in Indy, my best friend in Cinci, and one of our partner churches in C-bus (that's Columbus, for those not from Ohio). I was in Kokomo, Indiana when the lactation consultants from Columbus called me (I had filled out an application for a job there two weeks before). They were interested in my application and when could I come to Columbus to interview? Well how about Monday? I was already going to be there. SWEEEEEET!!!! It looked like Providence was shining on me! How perfect was that?? I interviewed and it went well. The job was everything I could have imagined. And the church in C-Bus is like family (that extended family that's a bit crazy, but you have so much fun with them you don't notice ;). So I waited. And waited. And waited. And never heard back from the hospital. I checked my application online and it had been closed. BUMMER. October closed with what felt like to me no more movement than September. Waiting.

New Life hosted a time for anyone who had been to Costa Rica to talk about what's been going on and my transition home.

November. Leaves falling dead from the trees. Cold. Deer in my driveway trying to comfort me with their silence. My church sent a small group of us to attend a conference on healing at the Vineyard church in Champaign, Illinois. Randy Clark and Robby Dawkins (the guy in Furious Love and Father of Lights) were the guest teachers. If you haven't heard of them, they are doing powerful things for the Kingdom of God in areas of healing and deliverance. And if you want to see some of the crazy stuff that was described in the book of Acts, hang out with them for a while.

The conference was so amazing and so encouraging. The point that most resonated with me was one made about John, the author of Revelation. Because he was following what God was telling him to do, he ended up on the Island of Patmos. Basically banished to inhabit the caves of the island for shelter. But instead of begging God for a boat, or making one out of drift wood, or hailing passing ships or whatever, John is in the presence of the Lord and has one of the most revelatory visions of the New Testament (slight pun intended there). I realized that in spite of all my claims of patience, I was secretly, and openly, praying for the boat to get me off the freaking Island of Waiting. Other people had been telling me the same thing (thanks, Rodney!!!!), to just enjoy this time of resting and waiting on the Lord. Ok. I get it.

So now here I am. In my own cave on the Island of Waiting. I have decided to put in a dehumidifier, add a throw rug or two, paint some murals, and settle in for as long as the Lord holds me here. Do I know where I'm going next? No. The Lord's not telling me because he knows I'd run ahead. Will I miss it? No. One thing I have learned: if you're in the center of God's will, you're not going to miss God's will or the next step of your life. And if you'd like to visit me in my cave, I would love the company ;)