Exposition Part 1 (of many)

Well, so far I've discovered that the problem with having a blog is not a lack of things to write about but having way too much to say and not enough time. I initially thought that I would hesitate to write anything because I was afraid of people actually reading it...or not reading it...gasp! But it turns out I really don't care about that. More and more I'm feeling like whatever that was (God or the spicy food) that told me to 'write about it' may have been on to something...


I live in Florida. FLORIDA. Growing up in South Carolina, Florida was where you found Shamu and Disney World and rocket ships and where old people went when they got too old to work. It was a nice place to visit but never somewhere I thought I'd live. EVER. 


---- ENTER Linda Strickland ----


It was a chilly February morning; Monday, February 1st to be exact. My day started off as normal: got to work by 9, checked emails, checked in with the most dynamic youth min team in the whole wide world, looked at some upcoming calendar items, etc...
Around noon I drove home to get some lunch and my phone made that little 'ding' it makes when I have a new email. I opened it and it was from Linda Strickland, also known as the beautiful and talented associate director of ministries and assistant to Judith MacNutt at Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, FL. I had met Linda 2 years earlier at the St. Andrew's women's conference when Judith was our speaker. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Linda's email address on my screen - at the time I would have told you that my heart skipped that beat just because I love Linda so much but I know now that my spirit was trying to prepare me for something massive. Linda's email was short and a little cryptic ...all it said was 'can you please call me? I'd call you but I don't have your number.'


So, on my way back to the office, I called Linda and she said the wildest thing: she said there was a job opening at the ministry and asked if I would be interested in interviewing. GULP. We talked for about half an hour and decided that I would go to Jacksonville that Friday (the 5th) for an informal interview. I hung up the phone and cried for 3 days. Something in me told me, even though Linda had made no promises, that I should start packing. Nothing in me WANTED to pick up my life and leave.

 I had an awesome job. I loved my church: 

St. Andrew's Church, Mount Pleasant 

All of my family was there - including the most precious and adorable loves of my life: Betsy and James, my niece and nephew. I could not fathom being away from any of this:

And yet, that thing from within was pushing me out of the nest. I knew I needed to pursue it. The rest is history. Here's the timeline:

• February 5, 1st interview
• February 11, 2nd interview (with Judith)
• February 16-18, on campus at School of Healing Prayer Level 2 to observe
• February 18, offered and accepted position as 'prayer ministry coordinator' 
• February 28, announced to the church and the youth group kids that I would be leaving, aka hardest day of my life
• March 11, said goodbye to the place I had worked for 7 years...a place I had truly grown to love on the deepest level
• March 14, moved to Jacksonville (I cried the whole 4 hour drive - I do not suggest this - it gets really hard to see by about Walterboro)

• March 15, first day of work at Christian Healing Ministries
• March 15, also the first day of School of Healing Prayer Level 3. We had to go up to the front as a staff and introduce ourselves and what our positions were on staff. As the microphone made it to the person one away from me, I had to ask Linda what my title was 

So here I am. I live in FLORIDA. 

Everything I've ever known is 4 hours north. I know, I sound so dramatic...but when you live in a place for so long and don't ever envision yourself leaving, it's a big deal. I will say this, however: as big and scary and new and lonely and overwhelming as this has all been, I have grown to really understand the PARACLETE. haha my spell check doesn't understand that word - it recommends that I try parachute or parakeet. No, I got it right the first time:

Paraclete: comes from the Koine Greek word παράκλητος (paráklētos, "one who consoles, one who intercedes on our behalf, a comforter or an advocate").The word for "Paraclete" is passive in form, and etymologically signifies "called to one's side". The active form of the word is parakletor, not found in the New Testament but found in Septuagint in Job 16:2 in the plural, and means "comforters", in the saying of Job regarding the "miserable comforters" who came to him in his distress. 

In the midst of so much change, so much heartache, so much of the unfamiliar, I have not once felt alone. I don't mean I haven't felt lonely; I haven't felt alone. Since I got in my car on March the 14th, 2010 and set out on the scariest journey of my life, I have known without a shadow of a doubt that there has been an unseen presence with me who is giving everything I need. 

'there is always hope'

...TO BE CONTINUED...