Job offered... Job accepted! The new journey begins...

I have recently decided it was time to take a plunge of faith!  Perhaps... a plunge off a diving board on a nice warm summer day would have been a bit easier, or a plunge off the plank of a pirate ship into a sea full of feisty, hungry sharks! : ) 

This adventure started a little over a month ago, and it caught me completely by surprise!  I always told God there were two things I would NEVER do.... 1. go to another county on a mission trip (me and spiders don't exactly get along- any creature/insect for that matter) 2. to use my talents of teaching to teach at a private Christian school with little pay.  (It was always a nice dream with a secondary income from a significant other...which I don't have.)  

I am now going to do both of those things!  This summer I will be traveling to Haiti with a group of students and staff members from the public school I teach at.  Since committing to this trip, I have learned that this lovely country has tarantulas, and playful lizards!  Oh joy!  While in Haiti we will be installing water purification systems to provide the people of Chambrun clean drinkable water.  We will also be loving on the children at the orphanage, and helping out with various tasks throughout the week!  I will be blogging on this during the trip!! 

About a month ago I was discussing how nice it would be to teach at a private Christian school with my brother.  I began to tell him how frustrated I had become with the government's involvement in public education.  In my opinion it is becoming very stressful to be a teacher in a public school right now.  I continued to tell him how fulfilling it would be to be surrounded by God and furthering His Kingdom every single day at a Christian school.  I also mentioned that there was an opening for a 3/4 split at my sons' school.  He prompted me to apply for it and look into it.  I simply told him he was CRAZY!  I proceeded to let him know there was NO WAY I could survive as a single mother on that income.  I simply listened to him with no intention of acting on the opening!

A few weeks later... I decided to at least call the school and ask about the position.  (that way I could tell my brother I at least looked into it) That phone call lead to an interview three days later!!! I was beside myself and didn't know what to think.  I immediately called my father thinking he would knock some sense into me and tell me I was indeed CRAZY!  That didn't happen!  My father encouraged me to follow God's lead and see where it goes.  The days leading up to the interview, I asked God for confirmation.  He gave me plenty!!  I knew I was being obedient to the path He wanted me to take.  The day after the interview I was called for a 2nd interview the following week.  I put my house on the market, and I let God lead the way!  The 2nd interview went just as well as the first, and I continued to have peace about the whole idea!  I had no anxiety about the journey I was taking.  Believe me there was plenty to worry about!  Let me just list a few things I could have worried about: no insurance, 50 % pay cut, have to move to a smaller home, no retirement plan, no guarantee for a stable job.... You have to understand my persona to know that this was not normal for me.  I am normally a high anxiety person and tend to worry a lot! At the 2nd interview I was offered a third interview in front of the entire board!  That interview was a week ago, and yesterday I was offered the job!  I had been praying for God's will throughout the entire process.  I didn't pray for one specific result... just His will. My house has officially been on the market for a week, and it has had a lot of action.  I do not know where this journey of faith will take me, but I do know it will draw me closer to God as I will have to rely on Him! 

One thing I forgot to mention.. Throughout the interviewing process, God lead me to a couple of loan forgiveness progroams for my college loans!! I have made $5,000 disappear from my loan, and I have lowered my monthly payments over 50%!! I also discovered a program that will completely dismiss my loan to a $0 balance after 120 payments!!!  I will end up getting rid of $20,000 of debt!!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future