I find it appropriate that the monthly topic for August is career-related. Me and my career…we’ve been battling it out lately. I’m in a bit of a career crisis, if you will, and I’ve really been struggling lately with what I need to do right now.
Do you ever feel like whatever you’re doing at any given time is just a stepping stone? Like you get into a job and you think to yourself in the back of your head (or the forefront), that no matter how awesome the job is you’re not going to stay there forever. And there’s no reason or no logical thinking, it’s just how you feel.
I have always felt like that. I don’t know if it’s insatiable wanderlust or if it’s just me being impatient, but I’ve never really felt like I could stay at any job for years and years and years. Perhaps it’s a sign that I haven’t found the right job yet. Or perhaps it’s something I need to work on in myself. I don’t know, and it’s something I’ve prayed about – A lot. And my prayers keep pointing back to one thing: Africa.
WHOA. *Screeching halt* Go back a minute…….What? Africa?? Have I lost my mind??? Maybe I have. But this isn’t a new idea for me. When I was freshly out of nursing school, I had a nagging in the back of my head that I should go and do some mission work somewhere. They always need nurses in the mission field, right? Well for one reason or another I have never been able to do it (mostly financial reasons; I have way too much debt to be able to take any time off from earning money). And I always sort of regretted that. Or resented it. Or both.
Well that nagging has come back. It never fully went away, but now it’s plaguing me. And by God’s grace, a door has been opened to allow me to be able to spend a year with no income. So now the search begins. Did you know that there is this thing called the Catholic Medical Mission Board? Because there is. And I applied. I applied to a year-long position in Kenya, not knowing exactly what I’ve gotten myself into, but knowing full well that it’ll be hard and unlike anything I’ve ever done before.
Now I haven’t heard anything from them (it’s only been like 3 days since I applied….maybe I’m a little bit impatient?), but that’s also not the only Catholic mission hospital in Africa. So I’ll keep trying until every mission hospital over there has turned me away.
That being said, please please PLEASE pray for me! Pray for my discernment here, and pray that if it’s God’s will it will all work out, and that if I am able to go, that I don’t get eaten by a lion. Or a cheetah. Or trampled by a wildebeest. Also, if you have any pointers or ideas of where else I could look, or who I could talk to, please let me know! I’d love you forever.
And as always, I’m praying for all you, dear readers.
–Virginia
Life in the Gap 