30 days. Yeah. I'm counting.

30 days until I leave for Thailand. I have so many thoughts going through my head and feelings pounding through my heart.

It was early 2014 and I found myself in Dimapur, India, sitting on the porch of a new missionary acquaintance. We were talking about missions, life, and everything else. My life had kinda stalled. I was in the middle of my master’s program trying to decide if the piece of paper and the financial burden associated with it was really worth it. It was that conversation that convinced me to finish this degree.

Since 2008 I have been working in the technology field. What a blessing that has been. Inside of that blessing though has always been a seed (sometimes a lot more than a seed!) of discontentment. Computers have never been a passion. But, I did my best to work faithfully and diligently in what God had provided. Moving to Thailand signifies what is hopefully the laying down of the career in technology, and a moving towards a career in counseling. A career – a job – that I believe God has gifted me for.

More so, moving to Thailand is giving me the incredible opportunity to explore the option of being a counselor to missionaries. I’ve been counseling now, during my practicum (mini internship), for 11 whole weeks. Not very long, but long enough to know that I find a deep fulfillment in this work. As I talked about in an earlier blog, I believe that God has given me a heart to work with missionaries. Going to Thailand will give me the experience, over the 9 months, to see if counseling missionaries is where I want to take my practice.

As I look back over the last year I am blown away with all of the ways that doors have been opened. I called or emailed over 35 missions organizations and overseas counseling centers with the question, “Do you all take counseling interns?” I didn’t hear back from a lot of those places. I got “No” from the rest. Except for SIM. SIM said, “maybe.” And so I applied. 4 months later, SIM accepted me as a short-term missionary. And then, they started to help me look for a counseling center where I could intern. Cornerstone, in Thailand, said “let’s give it a shot.” And so, I applied. 4 months later I was accepted. For brevity’s sake, I’m leaving out a lot of really neat things and stories of doors being opened. Either way, the journey, up to this point, has been incredible. God is faithful.

And to finish. So many of you have blown me away with your generosity. You’ve been generous with your encouragement of me pursuing this dream. You’ve been generous in your prayers. And you’ve been generous financially. It’s been incredible to see. So, thank you so much! I do still need to raise a bit more money, so if you are interested you can donate here: https://www.simusa.org/give/ But, really. All of you who have already given, thank you.

I’m feeling really humbled, full of anticipation, and most of all grateful for all of this.