The winds of change are blowing thru our family!  We have been in an amazing season, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I love to look toward what’s on the horizon.  My life is a testament to God’s faithfulness.  If you want to hear an encouraging story of His unbelievable goodness, then read this one!!

THE BACK STORY

In 2012, I had a burning desire to stay at home with my children.  I thought it would be an impossible feat – to essentially give up half of our income to stay home with our kids.  But, one day, while looking at our finances, it was as if the Lord shone a light onto them and a lightbulb went off in my head.  “We can do this!  We can TOTALLY do this!!”  And so we took the leap of faith.  It was a difficult one to take.  I was advancing in my career, and was even beginning to gain state recognition for my contribution to the field in which I was working.  That came at a price, though.  I was forced to travel a LOT in my job.  And by “a LOT,” I mean A LOTTTTTTT!!!! — often being away from my family for a week or more out of most months.  My kids were little, and I was more disconnected from them than I ever imagined I would be.  In fact, it wasn’t until I began staying home with them that I realized just how utterly disconnected I had become.  It broke my heart to reflect back on the very first business trip I had to make when Jonah was an infant – how I’d wept at the thought of leaving him overnight, yet somehow over the years it had become commonplace for me to regularly leave them for many nights in a row without even a hint of sadness at the thought of being away from my babies.

It was absolutely the right decision for me to lay down my career and focus on family.

My goal was to stay home until my daughter started kindergarten.  Jonah started in the fall of 2014, and Lexi is scheduled to start this coming fall (2015).

Over the past year or so, I found myself on several occasions beginning to browse for jobs, as I’d peek at our finances and wonder, “Can we really do this for another year??”  But, every time I did that, I felt a nudge in my spirit that it was not the right time.  I felt very much like my next career step would be into full-time vocational ministry, as I’ve felt that call on my life since middle school.  During this season of staying home, I’ve become highly involved in ministry

at my church and in the community, so it seemed like this might be the right transition time for me to move into a career of church ministry.  But, I don’t want to be presumptive.  I want to stay in touch with the Lord, and follow His lead, not my own.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)  I’ve found over the years that most of the time, I may have an idea of what the ultimate goal is, but rarely does the process look anything like I’d anticipated.  So, I finally surrendered my expectations and asked the Lord, “Will you PLEASE make it abundantly clear when it is the right time and the right job!”

The TIMELINE

JANUARY 2015:  Not long after my prayer, I was browsing the AISD website to look at the school lunch menu for Jonah, when I happened upon a front-page story, announcing that my old high school friend Christine had been promoted to Executive Director of the Abilene Education Foundation.  As soon as I saw that article, my wheels began turning, as I’d remembered seeing her give a news interview years prior about her job at AEF.  I didn’t remember much, but I did remember listening to her give that interview and thinking, “OMG!!” (except that I probably didn’t think in acronyms way back then) “What an awesome job!!  I would LOVE to do that job.”  So, when I read about her promotion, I began processing, “This means her job will most likely come open.  I should keep an eye out for it.”  I knew that her promotion would take effect in June, so I filed a reminder in the back of my mind to watch the AISD website for a job posting sometime in late spring.  In the meantime, I decided to browse the AEF web page to read up on the foundation and learn more about the program that Christine had worked in.

February: I went to a conference by two high-level prophets, Isabel and Ivan Allum, on Valentine’s weekend 2015, at which time I received a prophetic word from Ivan.  Here’s what he said:

“You know, dear, I love that spirit of life all over you. You know you’re a real go-getter, you’re a lady who just really wants to get everything, and I see inside of you the Lord saying “SHAKE UP. SHAKE UP. SHAKE UP.”  You know, everything.  I saw this picture of this kitchen and everything was in its place, it was in order, and everything was exact, and I saw everything being pulled out and moved, and everying mixed up and the Lord says, dear, “I’m coming to move things, I’m coming to mix things up, I’m coming to bring a change of order around you that is gonna bring about a liberty and a freedom over top of your life, and dear, you know you’re gonna see that liberty and that freedom of God that’s gonna come and bring rest to you.  Dear, you’re gonna see that place of where everything…you don’t have to strive, you don’t have to push it, you don’t have to make it happen anymore.  You’re gonna see that rest of the Lord come and rise up inside of you that is gonna bring the word of freedom.”

March: On March 2, I went to look something up online, but as I entered “www” in my browser, it autofilled the AEF web address – for the first time EVER.  This prompted me to browse the AISD website for that job posting, and what do you know!  It had been posted since February 9 (incidentally – the Monday before I received the prophetic word above).  My heart began leaping inside of my chest, as this job just sounded so absolutely exciting to me.  I couldn’t sleep that night, as I was processing so much information, including the fact that my resume was not ready.  The next day, I got it ready, as I figured I didn’t have much time to spare, considering the job had been posted for over three weeks.  I applied for the job on Tuesday and the job posting closed on Thursday.  I had a panel interview (of 5) the following Monday, and another one (of 7) on Good Friday.  I was offered the job that following Monday (April 6).

My contract starts July 6.  I will be working as a C.O.O.L. counselor at Abilene High School.  For more info about this program, look here.

EVIDENCE OF GOD’S HAND

If you don’t see the hand of God in all of this long-winded testimony, let me recap some of the highlights of my thought process concerning all of this:

• Who leaves the workforce for THREE YEARS and attains the very first job they go after, to return to the workforce??  Not only that, but it is a job that had grabbed my attention years prior!
• My goal was to return to work when Lexi starts Kindergarten.  I’m scheduled to return to work six weeks before she starts school.
• One of my heart’s concerns was that, in returning to work, I wouldn’t get to spend holidays and such off with the kids.  I’ve grown very accustomed to getting to be with them whenever I want.  With this job, I will mostly be off when they are off, and my hours will closely align with their school hours and schedule.
• My contract begins July 6, which gave me ample time to really process the transition of returning to work.  God knows how I’m designed and has showered me with favor in this!
• One of my very favorite parts of my previous job was planning & working summer camps.  Wouldn’t you know, the VERY FIRST thing I get to do with this new job THIS WEEK is to go work a summer camp!!  WHAAAAAT?!?!?
• A nifty incidental:  Abilene High is my alma mater.  Class of ’96. I begin working for the 2015-2016 school year, which marks 20 years from my senior year at Abilene High.  Kinda cool.
• I asked the Lord for confirmation that this was the right job for me, and I felt strongly compelled to go back and read my journal from last summer.  Here are excerpts from 3 different dreams/visions I recorded in my journal last summer:

Dream #1: I dreamed that I was at a gala and someone approached me about teaching at a charter school. “I was planning to pray into it but was weighing the fact that it was a ministry opportunity. It just looked different from what I had anticipated….This is the second dream I’ve had in the past couple of months with the theme that a ministry opportunity is going to open up for me that looks different from what I’m expecting.”

Dream #2:  [please note, vehicles often represent “ministry” in dream interpretation]. “I went to church one Sunday for worship.  I got there very late.  The church was actually a high school….I ended up parking my car in a drop-off zone, rather than in the parking lot…I was paranoid the entire time in church because I had parked my car in a temporary spot. I was afraid it would get ticketed or towed….When I left, my car was totally fine.  No ticket. No tow.  I had been worried for nothing.”

Vision:  Seeking the Lord about whether to go back to work.  “I got a vision in my mind’s eye of me standing on a platform, teaching/speaking to fields of god.  There are no people in the vision.  Just fields of gold.”  (Abilene High’s colors are black & gold)

Just wanted to share this incredible testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness.  He is so good!  He knows the desires of our hearts and is always eager to shower good gifts on His children!!  I am nothing special — except that I am the Daughter of the Most High King.  This favor is at everyone’s disposal.  Just set your heart and affections on Him.  Stop & Listen. Be willing to go right when He says go right.  Be willing to go left when he says go left.  Be willing to change your plans.  To surrender to His.  To stay when He says stay and GO when He says go.  These shifting seasons in my life are a beautiful testament to the truth of His Word in Proverbs 3:5-6!