Neuer Gedankengang!

A time of surprises

I haven't been here in a long time! More than 3 months. In my previous post, I claimed to be "pretty well settled" into my apartment - well, that was perhaps an exaggeration. Yes, when I was in Dublin, and I thought about coming home, it was the apartment and not the house in the country that I thought about. But I haven't put my own stamp on my new home - I haven't hung pictures and put all the boxes away. There is much to do. It still looks like I have just moved in, and in some ways I have treated it that way. Now I know it is time to really make it mine.

During the months since I wrote last, I considered and applied for a job out of Little Rock. I wasn't deliberately looking for one, but this one came up on a list serve I subscribe to. It fit my skills and interests, and it was in the town my sister lives in - it seemed like a "God thing" that I should pursue it. And I believe that, even though I didn't get the job. I did go through the process, and I got a telephone interview. I considered the benefits of moving closer to family, as well as what I would give up by leaving Little Rock. That was a good experience, and I'm confident with the outcome, even though I didn't make the second cut - my work here isn't finished yet. It's likely that I will move closer to family someday, but not soon.

So what do I mean by this being a time of surprises? This morning I heard a preacher say that the way God works is quite often a surprise to us, not the way we would choose to do something. I have known for some time that I needed to get involved in a setting that provided community, especially since I live alone. I have lots of wonderful friends who have been very supportive, but they live in Arkadelphia or Avilla or West Little Rock or Germany or - or they have really busy lives or new children or high stress jobs - so - I need to make additional connections, and I have explored some things, but nothing felt like home. Today I think I found "home" - and the surprise, or one of them, came in how I ended up there.

My sweet, wonderful (young) friend Georgia, whom I met about 9 years ago when we both started the Donaghey Scholars Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and who once asked me kindly to remove her name from the list of Christian focused emails I sometimes forwarded because she wasn't a Christian, invited me to her church! She kept touching base with me about my need for community and companionship, providing it when she could, but nudging me to take steps toward finding my niche. And this morning she picked me up for church!

I won't tell you her story (you can read it for yourself at http://www.mosaicchurch.net/html/FEATURE/72204faith.asp), but I will say that I know God worked through her to help me find what I need now. I am confident that I will find the community I need, and that when I am stronger (or even in my weakness), I will be able to extend that community to others also!

What a nice surprise!

So I'm going to move ahead with making the place where I live into my home, and not just where I come at the end of the day. I don't want to post inside pictures until I can put up both "before" and "after" pictures. But I will show you my neighborhood - if you go to this link, you can see the view out my front and back windows:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Avillapictures/ViewsOutMyWindow

Next time I'll show you my home!

posted by Shirley Schuette @ 6:58 PM