Do you ever feel like your life is on a roller coaster? There are ups and downs. Sometimes you can see them coming and sometimes they
catch you by surprise. There might even be some loopdy loops, twists and turns.
The thing with roller coasters is that they take you for a
ride, but when they finally come to an end you get off at the same place you
got on.
A year ago I made the decision to move to Thailand to work
with Burmese Refugees. I feel like at that point I stepped onto a roller
coaster… there have been tons of ups, downs, twists and turns, but I haven’t
really gotten anywhere.
Each time I got ready to send out a big newsletter to share
my excitement and let everyone know what was going on, suddenly there were
major changes that kept me from sending it.
The latest turns have been kinda crazy. At one point I felt
like everything had been turned completely upside down.
Adventures In Missions is reworking their long term missions
department with the goal of making their staff on the field a bigger focus and
hoping to increase their numbers. The office staff that they have are doing an
amazing job of finding ways to better care for the field staff and creating
better processes to get them to the field; however, after several conversations
and lots of prayer… I decided that this wasn’t the best fit for me.
AIM will no longer be my sending organization for my move to
Thailand. I have AIM’s full blessing in this decision, and they are allowing me
to keep my support account open until I find a new organization to be under.
Once I have figured everything out they will then transfer the money from my AIM
support account to my new organization.
And here’s the fun twist…
My original plan was to spend a couple of weeks in GA
cooking for a World Race training camp. I will now be spending the summer in GA
working for AIM’s training department. My focus will be on the logistical and
administrative part of training camps for the different programs at AIM. Pieces
of this job are things I’ve done in the past and others will be totally new. The
great news is that I’ve worked for my boss before and love working for him.
I have no idea how I’m getting to Thailand, what
organization I’ll be under next, or even where I’ll live after the summer (hopefully Thailand!). But I do know I get to spend the summer doing hard,
fulfilling work surrounded by people I love.
Here’s to hoping the roller coaster ride is coming to an end
and I will not have to return to this one again. I’d really like to get off
this ride and see what kind of adventure the next ride has for me.
Praying for you Casey – it’s never easy when everything is up in the air!
It’s frustrating when we are working towards our dreams and things seem to keep deterring us, though I would think it would be best to learn from this side that the organization you thought you would be working with isn’t instead of while on the field and trying to deal with such issues there. Doesn’t take away the feeling of spinning your wheels though.
I was talking about you yesterday with a friend so you have been on my mind. I’m praying for open doors, to get connected to the organization/leadership you should be with, and a great summer.
God is so clearly in control! His involvemenet in your life is evidenced by the strength it took to walk away from all that you’re familiar with at AIM and your continued love and respect for them.
Enjoy your time in GA this summer working alongside some really amazing folks, and continue to seek what God has planned. He knows your heart and soon His voice will be heard clearly and the doors will open wide.
I like the analogy. I pray your next is soon and even better.
Praying for you in this season of the unknown, Casey! Can’t wait to hear what God has in store and how He’s going to redeem all of this for you. I’m proud of you for stepping out in faith and releasing your dream to God, and am waiting to hear where He brings you through all of this.
On one hand I wish you were in Thailand. On the other I am excited that you’ll be around Gainesville for the summer. It’ll be good to have you back. My prayer is that it’ll launch you to Thailand! 🙂 lov you sister!