A Bit of History

Having been raised in a Christian family I came to know Christ as my savior at a very early age.  My grandparents like to recount stories of me as a four-year-old standing on the fireplace behind a table with my wooden spoon as I preached to them.  Apparently I was a very harsh pastor as I asked my grandmother to leave once if she couldn't stop laughing!  It's funny now to look back on that considering I'm currently at Regent University's School of Divinity where I'm learning what I would need to work as a pastor.  The road getting here was long and filled with short side-stops, but God was leading me to this point through it all.

My freshman year of undergrad I really began to live my life for Christ.  I had been saved for a long time, went to church, stayed out of trouble, but I was trying to just maintain my faith and live a very low-key Christian life that really started to look more like a "good girl" secular life rather than a life filled with the love of God.  That year I became more deliberate in my daily devotions, took more time in prayer, and got involved in small groups/Bible studies.  It was during this year that God began to speak to me about going into the mission field.  I still felt like I was supposed to finish my education, however, so I put this idea of mission work on a shelf for a while and continued on with school and life as usual.  In fact, I put it so far back on a shelf that I nearly forgot it was there.

The next year I started a second major in Elementary Education.  I love working with kids and felt like getting a double major in education along with my major in Psychology would be a perfect fit.  For a long time I had considered being a child psychologist and thought this would be a good stepping stone.  By the time I finished student teaching, however, I was so invested in that and enjoyed working with the kids so much that I decided I would just apply to teach the following year.  I had applications in, had begun the initial interview process, and was waiting to hear back from school districts.

By the end of February/beginning of March I started realizing that my heart wasn’t in teaching anymore.  I realized that I was going into teaching because it was the logical next step.  I had a teaching certificate so what else would I possibly be doing?  It was around this time that the possibility of going to Regent University came up.  I really had no desire to go to grad school, but figured I would look at the website just so I could tell people I had looked into and it wasn’t for me.  Come to find out, it was!  As I looked through the degree programs, the classes I would be taking, the opportunities that would be offered to serve while there, God just began to say, “This is where I need you next.”

This was so completely against the plans that I had made.  It would take me back to school, away from a city and friends I had grown to love very deeply, and would not be using my teaching degree at all!  I began to pray in earnest that God would reveal what I was supposed to do.  And then I went to a retreat with my church . . .

(For the sake of length you’ll have to tune into the next post to hear the rest of the story! :)