Taking the next step...

June 30, 2009
Taking the next step: my testimony about how God brought me to my next career

For those of you who don’t know, I will be moving to Spokane Washington beginning a job on July 6th. I might be the only one who thinks this, but I feel very amused that one year ago I had declined a fourth year externship opportunity in Spokane and was preparing to move to Middlesbrough. I wonder if I took a year detour only to come back to where I was supposed to be. Or, maybe it wasn’t really a detour. The opportunity was with another company which still would have been a good opportunity but I don’t think I was the one ready to live there. This past week, several of my colleagues have made mention to the fact that I’m not the same person who came over to England last summer. Hmm, well, I have unfortunately put on some weight, I think my hair was grown a bit longer; I’ve developed faint crow’s feet around my eyes. Thankfully, this is not what they are referring to. Instead, I think they are pointing out the inward changes God has used this experience to develop in me. I learned a huge lesson in this hunt for a job.

In January, I began looking for a position in full force; using contacts to find out about open positions, posting my resume’ on several audiology job sites, sending out letters of inquiry to various places of interest. Every evening and weekend was spent refining my letter of introduction and resume’ and searching the web for more job openings. All my effort was greeted with…silence. No response. No interest. Discouragement set in. I remember when the job in Spokane opened online. I searched the website to find out more about what the job entailed but the description was cryptic. My mom encouraged me to apply for it for “the experience”. More than a little unenthused, I submitted my resume’ through the online application. Still nothing. I was becoming increasingly more discouraged. One night in April, I became angry at God; after all, I had been so diligent in seeking after a job and God wasn’t providing. I realized then that I had been doing this all in my own strength. I hadn’t bothered to seek God’s direction or tell Him of my desires. I think I was afraid that God might put me somewhere I didn’t want to be. I had to visualize the large burden of job hunting that I was carrying on my back and mentally place it before the cross of Christ and then visually walk away from it. I also prayed that the Holy Spirit would give me peace when I interviewed at the place God wanted me to be. I had to do this several times throughout the following days and weeks and when the anxiety of not having a job rose up, I reminded myself that it was released to God. Before I came home for graduation, I got the first response to one of my job applications. My mom e-mailed me that Spokane had contacted her and would like me to contact them when I was in town. Oh no, not Spokane! But, after all, I was just going to get more experience interviewing. Once back in Wenatchee, the phone call and e-mails began in full force; offers for interviews soon had my days and weeks filled. Some of the jobs had very appealing descriptions and I found myself imagining what it would be like to live in the area and work there. The first interview; the audiologist discouraged me from working there. The second interview; questions about the professionalism of the company. The third interview; I was told it was only a formality and that they already had someone in mind. The fourth interview; a good position but no peace about accepting it. My hopes were falling with the farewell handshake as I left each interview. One more interview left. I remember telling my friend Beth that those positions had appeared so good that if I wasn’t going to be hired at one of them then God must have somewhere really amazing waiting for me. I went to the Spokane interview still prepared to do my best in the interview process. As the interview proceeded, I had the revelation as the Holy Spirit moved in my spirit, this is where I was supposed to be! As I expressed my areas of interest in audiology, I was ecstatic to find that they were looking for someone with those interests. I toured the facilities and felt as if I already worked there. I wanted to be a part of this organization and their goals. Unlike the other places, I was excited to explore the surrounding area and spent the afternoon driving around the area. Driving back to Wenatchee the following day, I cried as I praised God for his faithfulness; not because I did anything to deserve His faithfulness, but because His character is faithfulness. I praised Him for the work he had been doing in my heart to prepare me to move to Spokane. When the job offer came, I knew with confidence what my answer would be.

I was speaking to a godly woman following the experience who pointed out that my experience was similar to when Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king of Israel. Samuel looked at each son and saw their outward appearance and thought their attractiveness would make them suitable kings but God said ‘no’ to each until the unlikely youngest son, David, was brought before Samuel and God stirred Samuel’s heart to show him that this was His choice for king. Just like I was bedazzled with the glowing job descriptions of many of the places I had high hopes for working, God showed me clearly that these were not the places He had in mind. As I begin this new job in one week’s time, may I continue to seek God’s heart and direction in every aspect of my life.

For the last time

June 27, 2009
Today is my last weekend in the UK and so I decided to visit my favorite place, Whitby, one last time. I bought some fish and chips with mushy peas and sat on the beach eating them. What I love about Whitby is that the beach stretches a ¼ mile of sand to the water and miles around the cliffs, and, no one is ever on the beach enjoying it! I will really miss Whitby with it’s quaint shops, yummy lemon tops, and the sound of the constant roar of the sea playing music in the background. Whitby is where I came to get away from the rough industrial area of Middlesbrough to smell the fresh sea air, to hear the ocean, to gaze out at the North Sea. I wrote a little collection of verse for your enjoyment:

Goodbye my Whitby
My friend
With sands that stretch beyond
And cliffs that jut broadly
Waves that roar, birds that call
To find fish and chips left on the shore
Bells that chime to those
Who climb the 99
Quaint shops with treasures galore
Mainly gleaned from your shore
A haven for ships out at sea
Oh my friend will you always be
My Whitby

Thoughts around graduation time

May 2009
“Those who abandon their dreams will discourage your.” When I discovered this quote just over a year ago, the words spoke to where I was at that point of my life; preparing to move to England. As graduation came around at the beginning of May, I was again contemplating this statement from two different angles. The first was to think back on those who did indeed try to discourage me; those who said that I wasn’t smart enough to go to college let alone graduate school, the speech and language pathology professor who, when I was considering audiology as a profession, told me that women shouldn’t be audiologists. And, the audiologist who told me that I would be over qualified and working for little pay and it wasn’t worth all the time and energy of graduate school. These people had either abandoned their dreams or let the difficulties of life create bitterness in their hearts for where they were in their lives. Out of their bitterness and disappointment, came discouragement to others.

The second angle was to think of those in my life who had encouraged me to where I am today. First would be my family who formed the basis of my education and relationship with God. My church family consisting of pastors, mentors, patriarchs and matriarchs of the church, the Patinas, and my Christian friends; those who because of their prayers, words of encouragement, and wisdom helped shape me into who I am now. Teachers throughout my childhood and youth; swimming, piano, all those people instilled in me the skills of discipline and hard work and spoke hard-to-hear truths into my life even when there were times I wanted to give up. Those from my California life; they lifted me up in friendship and encouraged me to pursue goals. Those from Pocatello; my friends and roommates who had to put up with late study nights and my frustrations. My ISU professors who helped me to grow my interest in audiology into a passion. It is amazing for me to think back on the encouragement these people put into my life and how my life has become a patchwork of their prayers, encouragement, words of wisdom, and truths. I am truly blessed!

Thinking on that phrase, I am reminded that my dreams are not what I can do, what job I obtain, what research I do. My dream is the hope I have in Christ; the hope that daily His Holy Spirit would work through me to touch those in my work with compassion, to speak words of truth into others lives, to bring encouragement to the depressed. There will be times that I will become discouraged at where I am in life, with others, with my job, but may I never abandon the dream that is my hope in Christ Jesus.