Faithfulness

The day after I posted my last blog update, Joe was offered a teaching position at the school where he interviewed in McKinney, Texas (just outside of Dallas).  After a few of our questions were answered, he accepted the position.  God is so faithful; He has given us a direction for the next step in our life journey.  We are looking at this next step in 3 ways: the good, the stuff we have to accept and our needs.

This is what’s good:

• The teaching position is in an IB only school which means Joe will use the training he has focused on the last 3 years in Vienna. 
• Joe gets to teach history!!!  Because he is dually certified in math and history, Joe usually has to take a job in math and move into the history department if a need arises.  But God is faithful and has given him the desires of his heart in this matter. 
• The school is an international charter academy. This is a special blessing in several ways. 
• It is a Kindergarten – 12^th grade school with no tuition which prides itself in a family environment while not sacrificing its academic focus.  
•  All 3 of our kids will be able to attend the school and will hopefully find a greater since of belonging with other students who have lived in different cultures (you know that TCK thing).

This is what we have to accept:

• The school isn’t in Europe.
•  We completely trust God in directing our lives to this specific place for this time.But the truth is we’re more than a little disappointed that we have to stay on this side of the Atlantic for the time being.  We really loved living in Europe and the different opportunities we had there.  No, it wasn’t always perfect and the situation, especially at the school, was astronomically stressful and destructive to our family.  Now we truly have to grieve the loss of this part of our hearts and try to get excited about this next stop in our journey. 
• Let’s face it, McKinney, Texas, although seemingly a nice town, is not Vienna, Austria.

These are our top needs for our move:

• A car – one that seats 5 and can handle the stop and go of metropolitan traffic  
•  A place to live – preferably in McKinney 
• Rent prices are high and a teacher’s salary is…..well…..low.

We would like to be settled into McKinney by July 21^st because Joe is required to attend training on that date in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area before reporting to full-time work on August 3^rd.  Yes, a month from today.  God’s timing is always perfect, never late, never early. 

Please pray for our needs and praise God for His faithfulness to His children.

“Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.  I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”  Psalm 66:16 - 20

Direction

Joe finally felt the freedom to send in resumes for teaching positions in the middle of May.  This isn’t the most ideal time to look for teaching jobs, but it isn’t too late for opportunities, either.  He began sending in applications with great hope and expectation, knowing that God has something good for us.  After all, that’s what He promises us in His Word.

After weeks of sending applications with no response, we were discouraged to say the least, and all the lies we’ve been fighting for months began attacking with a vengeance.  You are worthless.  You are unwanted.  You are useless.  You are unqualified.  And many, many more.  The depression, anxiety, discouragement was palpable.

Then one day, Joe called an HR person to ask about the details of a job.  She encouraged him to send in his application, so he did, that very afternoon.  The next day, she asked him to come for an interview.  This was a little kiss from heaven!  We all packed up in the car, took a long drive, full of expectation and hope like we hadn’t had in half a year.

Joe had a good interview, but when he told me that we would know something about the job in 2 – 3 weeks, I was crestfallen.  That was not the answer we had expected, not with the level of interest we felt the HR person had shown. Now our heavenly kiss had become another slap.  We had already been thinking about places to live and buying a car and the advantages of buying or borrowing furniture.  So we shuffled back in the car and headed back to Mom’s house, quite disappointed.

This time period in our life has been the greatest faith journey we have ever experienced.  We were lauded by many about our great faith when we moved to Vienna, and yet, I think about how easy that was compared to this.  We knew where we were going, we knew what we needed to do to get there, and we trusted that because God called us, we would go.  He would provide all we needed.

Have we lost that trust or faith? No.  But for two planners, two doers, two people with purpose, sitting and doing nothing is the greatest faith test ever.

We get up each day, we study the Word, we school our kids…..and then there is nothing.  You can only do so much when you live in someone else’s home, drive someone else’s car and have no foreseeable income.  It doesn’t take long to get discouraged, frustrated, angry, hopeless.

We have no plans, nowhere to start, nothing to do.  Our only hope is to trust that the Shepherd knows what He is doing, sitting here in this dark valley, waiting.

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  Psalm 27:13-14.