A First Calling

Just two years ago, I had decided to switch from a Criminology major to an Oceanography major. Seeing as I ended up getting my degree in Recreation & am moving to the mountains, it’s obvious that didn’t last very long. When I first became a Recreation major, I really had no clue what I wanted to do in the field. There are countless options of career paths to get into with the major I finally decided on, & for a while I was lost trying to narrow them down. A beautiful friend of mine by the name of Brooke (the same friend who let me stay with her as I mentioned in my “Going All In For Jesus” post) told me a little bit about her job as a counselor at the YMCA when we lived together over the summer of 2017. At the time my practicum was about to be over & I was going to be left without a job for the remainder of the summer. To make a long story short, I ended up getting hired as a Camp Counselor and ended up transitioning into an Afterschool Counselor position shortly thereafter.

I’ve always loved kids, but I had never really considered a career that involved working with them daily. With my part-time position with the Y, I quickly realized that I genuinely enjoyed the job each & every day. Even when I was in the worst mood, coming into work & being with our kids made me leave all my cares & concerns behind. Because of that job (& Brooke’s influence which got me there), I discovered a first calling on my life by the Lord to pursue a career that impacted the lives of children.

Since then I’ve also discovered that my area of passionate ministry is the military community. My upcoming internship will allow me to serve children in military families through recreational & educational opportunities as well as through general loving care. When I received my offer for this internship, in my state of choice no less, it confirmed to me all that I believed God was calling me to do. And it all started with that initial Camp Counselor gig that made me realize the joy I so easily find every time I’m around our youngest generation.

Today was my last day of work at the YMCA, at least here in Wilmington. I found myself tearing up at the thought of the fact that I’ll likely never see any of our kids again, and full-on crying when I saw the most wonderful sign on the wall with a goodbye note written from each of them. Those elementary schoolers may not even remember me when they get older, but boy I wish they knew how much they mean to me. It took nowhere near the entirety of my eight months spent with them to realize that I want to keep impacting the lives of our youth for years to come. I can’t even imagine being in the career fields I once thought were my perfect fit, which just goes to show that God knows me better than I know myself & He brought me exactly where I needed to be, when I needed to be there. Even though I’m going to miss the YMCA, my coworkers, & those kids immensely, I know that the Lord will provide new opportunities for me to pursue this call on my life throughout my internship & beyond.

When there’s two days of class left in your college career, you start a blog…

So this is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time, but last week while at my church’s annual women’s conference “Flourish,” I felt prompted by God to put the urge into action. He emphasized to me the word SHARE, which is what I’m aiming to do in a simple way through this blog. I’ve always loved writing & chronicling my life in various ways (poetry, photography, etc.) so it’s only natural that at the beginning & end of two huge life events I have coming up, it’s the perfect time to start writing about my journey.

Even though I’m technically not graduating until after my summer internship is over, I’m participating in a “Celebration of Achievement Ceremony” at which I will get to walk the stage in cap & gown in recognition of completing all of my university classes. Since two of my best friends are also graduating, we of course had to spend a night decorating our caps. Despite the anxiety this caused my perfectionist self, we got it done with a little help from one another. I am so going to miss these nights together, hanging out at the apartment with our kitties running around, getting into everything. It’s moments like these where I thank God that He has placed me exactly where I am, with purpose, planned out long before I even knew who these beautiful friends of mine were.

I’m still not sure if it has really hit me that I’m leaving this lovely town in just a couple short weeks, or that a little over a month from now I’ll be (physically) leaving life as I know it behind me, and starting a brand new chapter 1,777 miles away. But as I’m reflecting on where I was in life three years ago, a new high school graduate, I realize that I’m an entirely different person than I was then, in the best way. I would have never pictured myself in a place like the one I’m about to move to–and I certainly couldn’t have predicted that I would find myself in an authentic, cherishable, and fulfilling relationship with the Lord. He has not only filled my heart with new desires & dreams bigger than I could’ve imagined on my own, but He’s moved mountains on my behalf. And that’s why through this unpredictable next phase in my life, I can’t even help but continue to keep my faith in Him.