The Paw Paw Patch

I can definitely say that I have been in a “paw paw patch” for the past year and a half. 
It hasn’t been the most fun. 
It has been ugly.
It has been barren.
It has been challenging.
It has had great moments sparsely thrown into the mix.
Yes, I did mentally choose to be unhappy during this season several times.
Can you relate? 

This is a popular simple Southernism to insinuate that someone is way out in the “middle-of-nowhere”.  I forgot about this phrase until my momma used it in a sentence a few weeks ago, and I immediately could relate to it from life.

Actual paw paw fruit.

The season started when my team broke up and decided to no longer go to South Sudan at the end of 2012.  I have been job hunting in Georgia since then for Health and PE jobs.  I do have a preference of area and age group, and maybe that’s a factor why I don’t have a job.  Yet, would you want to work in an area and group that is extremely difficult for you?

I have been able to get odd jobs from time to time, lots of substitute work, teaching tennis, and more.  Yet, still wondering “What the heck am I doing in life?”.  I believe deep down I see myself as an instructor for youth using activities and games.  Can you relate to a season/time in your life?  Especially when community is sparse.

I got tired of waiting for schools to get back with me.  Again, and again, and again I have put my hope in applying to easily more than 100 applications resulting in 6 interviews and no job. 
Enough. 
Get me out of America. 

So, I skyped with G42 alumni in Ukraine in early June, bought a one-way ticket, and left at the end of the month to go to a place I’ve briefly been before to meet and work with people I’ve actually never met and lived with before. 

Finally.
Something.

After a crazy, awesome, relaxed, peaceful, and enjoyable time, I went to Mijas, Spain for a G42 Alumni reunion.  In the meantime I had applied and got accepted to co-lead a trip!  Finally!  Wait, what?! I was accepted for a position I applied for?! 

The past month has been a whirlwind of God working in crazy ways.  For example: I was accepted and my entire Passport trip was paid for in a matter of a week and a half with the funds people believed and invested in me 2 years ago for an entirely different trip.  Now I share this while sitting in Nicaragua where I will be for the next 3 months.

My life is crazy!

What happened though?  What shifted?  God showed up.  He has revealed to me people do believe in me, and it's wrecked my thinking and heart.  Yes, God.  The creator of the Universe, you, and me.  Who has and will never give up on us.  The one who has given me a slice of Peace and Joy I can hardly describe in words, but all my stress and worries of what I am to do in life is taken away with a blink of an eye.

I can look back and see the wilderness I was in.  Now, I can confidently look forward with a different outlook and eagerness to engage the day to day with a peace and love from God that overpasses all understanding. 

Where are you in life?

A 14 year old dream fulfilled of visiting Gibraltar.