A New (Kinda Scary) Adventure
I've said before that one way God seems to work in my life at times is in spur-of-the-moment ideas or revelations. He has been at work in this exact way this last week and if I stop and truly think about it, my mind can hardly fathom how great He is.
Since I graduate with my BA in psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2004, I've been asked numerous times why I don't pursue my Master's degree. My answer was always very simple - I just didn't want to. I had no desire to go back to school. None. After working at Trinity for a few years, I looked into what it would take to get my teaching degree and when I found that it would entail a couple of years on the UW campus, I knew that wasn't the direction I wanted to take. I was content where God had placed me in life and was willing to wait for Him to show me the next move.
A couple of weeks ago, while having a really bad day, I was talking with a friend of mine at school. She has been my go-to listening ear when issues from my past creep up on me and seem to overwhelm me. After sharing my heart with her that day, the tears subsided and I began to share with her my idea of starting an online support group for survivors of abuse in order not to feel alone in my struggles. At the end of that conversation, she said a few simple words that put into play the recent events, "Promise me that whenever you leave Trinity, you will work with other abuse survivors."
Since that day, her words turned over and over in my mind. My job at Trinity started as a one year position in 2006 and God has amazingly turned it into this job I love and look forward to each day even now, as I'm in my seventh year. But I know the job won't last forever. One day when God deems it right, I will leave Trinity and to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I will do after that.
All this got me thinking that perhaps it is time to start thinking about my future and what will come next. I've decided that even if I don't know what I will do after Trinity, having another degree in my corner will open many more doors for me. The local Christian radio station has ads for Grand Canyon University on it and last Saturday, I got this idea that I should check it out. So I looked it up online and found a degree that I was interested in - Master's in Christian Studies with and Emphasis on Youth. I started what I thought was just a little application to create an on-line profile and after a few minutes, got this screen that said, "Congratulations! Your application to Grand Canyon University has been submitted." Lo and behold, I had applied.
I told a couple friends what I had done and just decided to wait on the idea to see what would happen next. Fast forward to the end of the week - I had talked to an enrollment counselor, officially got accepted to the program, and will begin classes on November 24. Yes, this November! This program will take about a year and a half to complete, as I take one class at a time. It really is a wonderful program and I'm impressed with all I've learned about it so far before even starting the actual classes.
While I am very excited and looking forward to this new journey in my life, I have to be honest in saying I am pretty scared as well. First of all, I question my ability to do this degree. Part of the reason I was never interested in pursuing my Master's degree is the fear that I wasn't smart enough and wouldn't be able to finish it. What if I can't do this? My second fear has to do with the financial aspect. This $25,000 degree will be paid for entirely by student loans because I can't afford it otherwise. I have been paying on my BA student loans for six years now and have enjoyed watching that total go down - slowly, but surely. Now it's about to skyrocket, leaving me with several years ahead of paying it off. Talk about nail-biting!!
Please pray for me. Pray that I will be able to balance the classwork with my teaching job and other responsibilities my life already entails. Pray that I will be confident in my studies and my ability to complete this. Pray that I will continually lean on God to get me through this and never, for a second, believe that I can do it on my own. Pray that when the degree is finished, I will be able to find a job using it in a way that glorifies God. I'm excited to see where God is leading me in all this!
Since I graduate with my BA in psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2004, I've been asked numerous times why I don't pursue my Master's degree. My answer was always very simple - I just didn't want to. I had no desire to go back to school. None. After working at Trinity for a few years, I looked into what it would take to get my teaching degree and when I found that it would entail a couple of years on the UW campus, I knew that wasn't the direction I wanted to take. I was content where God had placed me in life and was willing to wait for Him to show me the next move.
A couple of weeks ago, while having a really bad day, I was talking with a friend of mine at school. She has been my go-to listening ear when issues from my past creep up on me and seem to overwhelm me. After sharing my heart with her that day, the tears subsided and I began to share with her my idea of starting an online support group for survivors of abuse in order not to feel alone in my struggles. At the end of that conversation, she said a few simple words that put into play the recent events, "Promise me that whenever you leave Trinity, you will work with other abuse survivors."
Since that day, her words turned over and over in my mind. My job at Trinity started as a one year position in 2006 and God has amazingly turned it into this job I love and look forward to each day even now, as I'm in my seventh year. But I know the job won't last forever. One day when God deems it right, I will leave Trinity and to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I will do after that.
All this got me thinking that perhaps it is time to start thinking about my future and what will come next. I've decided that even if I don't know what I will do after Trinity, having another degree in my corner will open many more doors for me. The local Christian radio station has ads for Grand Canyon University on it and last Saturday, I got this idea that I should check it out. So I looked it up online and found a degree that I was interested in - Master's in Christian Studies with and Emphasis on Youth. I started what I thought was just a little application to create an on-line profile and after a few minutes, got this screen that said, "Congratulations! Your application to Grand Canyon University has been submitted." Lo and behold, I had applied.
I told a couple friends what I had done and just decided to wait on the idea to see what would happen next. Fast forward to the end of the week - I had talked to an enrollment counselor, officially got accepted to the program, and will begin classes on November 24. Yes, this November! This program will take about a year and a half to complete, as I take one class at a time. It really is a wonderful program and I'm impressed with all I've learned about it so far before even starting the actual classes.
While I am very excited and looking forward to this new journey in my life, I have to be honest in saying I am pretty scared as well. First of all, I question my ability to do this degree. Part of the reason I was never interested in pursuing my Master's degree is the fear that I wasn't smart enough and wouldn't be able to finish it. What if I can't do this? My second fear has to do with the financial aspect. This $25,000 degree will be paid for entirely by student loans because I can't afford it otherwise. I have been paying on my BA student loans for six years now and have enjoyed watching that total go down - slowly, but surely. Now it's about to skyrocket, leaving me with several years ahead of paying it off. Talk about nail-biting!!
Please pray for me. Pray that I will be able to balance the classwork with my teaching job and other responsibilities my life already entails. Pray that I will be confident in my studies and my ability to complete this. Pray that I will continually lean on God to get me through this and never, for a second, believe that I can do it on my own. Pray that when the degree is finished, I will be able to find a job using it in a way that glorifies God. I'm excited to see where God is leading me in all this!
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