Experience Doesn't Make You Better

The view Jonathan and I looked out on
as we discussed what God might have in store for us.

So what's life been like since returning from our "life-changing" experience?

A question worthy to be asked, but even more important to be answered. I love this quote I heard the other day. It sums up something so important that I knew deep down, but never took time to dig into.

" Experience Doesn’t Make You Better,  

Only Evaluated Experience Makes You Better. "   

(Dr. Howard G. Hendricks)

We've been home for a month, and I pray everyday that I continue to unfold all the lessons I learned while I was overseas. I have had a lot of time to process what has happened in the past six months and really be able to pray about the future; yet at the same time things have not slowed down nor become any more predictable.  I was hoping to hit the ground running and immediately have a job that I could busy myself with, as to become familiar with the community in Kona, but I don't think that's what God had in mind. If I were to be completely frank with you, I'd have to say that I'm a rather impatient person who only has the appearance of sometimes looking patient because I can busy myself with other distractions...*OUCH!* So my loving heavenly Father has given me some time to work on this part of myself ;) He's so good to me :)

In this past month, God has pulled me aside from other "lovers" (busy-ness, living quarters full of people I'm not related to, appointments to make, deadlines to beat, etc...) and called me to a place of waiting on Him and seeking Him like it's the only way I'll survive the day. Just when I thought I couldn't pursue God anymore than I did while I was in India, God gave me the gift of desperately clinging to Him here in America. Desperateness is the best thing that has ever happened to me, because it was then that I became desperate for God and discovered how wonderful and necessary His daily presence is to me.

In a more practical sense, let me tell you about the past month of "waiting on God."

I didn't really have any solid plans "per say" when we arrived, but I had a direction I was heading toward. I wanted to get myself plugged into the public school system. So, all this really cool stuff started happening.

•  I had meetings/phone convos with all the local vice principals of the public schools in the area which resulted in some interviews. SCORE!
• I found out it was super easy to change a FL teaching certificate into a HI teaching certificate. Sweetness! No more testing!
• I hit some dead ends.
• I then experienced the sweetness that comes from releasing my expectations in life to the ONE who knows EVERYTHING.
• I talked to another VP who actually gave me some applications to fill out. Open door?
• I filled out a couple applications. The longest. EVER.
• Received a request to work for the University of Nations Learning Center (with no pay) because they had a need in 2nd for a teacher to fill in for the rest of the school year.
• We prayed about that request, but didn't really think much of it because it looked like I was going to get into the school system.
• But we put out a fleece before God. We prayed that the schools wouldn't call me back and that a sizable amount of money would come in to support us so I would know clearly if God wanted me to take the 2nd grade position at the Learning Center.
• We then prayed for God to close doors where I was not to go in and open the ones nice and WIDE for me to know I could and should walk through them.

Truly I tell you, the schools didn't call me back that week and I had a very difficult time even setting up a meeting with one of the VPs and then Jonathan filed our taxes and we found out we would be receiving enough to stay afloat for a month or two. BUT... I still wasn't convinced. ha. I realized that it might take a little while for my papers to be processed in the system so Jonathan and I agreed that I would volunteer a little time at the Learning Center, but definitely not as the full time 2nd grade teacher. The morning I was preparing to walk up to the office and talk to the administrator of the Learning Center, I received a phone call. It was the VP of the 3rd school in our area and he just wanted to check on me and see where I was in the process of applying. I told him the good news of getting applications and being scheduled for fingerprinting, and he was excited for me to be entering the system. Furthermore, he was thrilled that I had just come back from my DTS in India because he has close ties with the University of Nations and friends that are currently ministering in Thailand through YWAM. So by the end of our conversation he wanted to let me know that after fingerprinting it was going to be about 6-8 weeks before I could even be hired. 6-8 weeks. I thanked him for his time and we hung up. I knew exactly why he had called that morning. God had just given me my marching orders and I knew exactly what I needed to do...

To be continued...