A week or so ago, a friend asked me what my long-term plans were in chaplaincy and to be honest, I had a bit of a hard time answering him. You see, after I get ordained, there is still Board Certification to work towards and even having those two major hurdles cleared does not guarantee that I will be able to get a job as a chaplain. The competition for such positions, especially here in the Cities is pretty tough. As I was reflecting about that with another friend, she asked me if I had ever actually received a call from God to chaplaincy. I do not think she doubted my call; she just wanted to help me clarify it. Her question caused me to reflect a bit more.
For a long time now I have felt called to minister to the broken. God has given me a heart for them and I long to help them realize the hope and strength He can be in their lives. I even have a mission statement for myself that I believe is from Him: To seek God’s Heart behind our masks. Through the years, God has shown me that He has planted His image in each of our hearts. In the midst of everything this world throws at us, this image can get quite tarnished. Yet through Christ, God brings us back into His healing space and helps us to become more like Him through the Power of His Holy Spirit at work in and through our hearts and lives. That passion has been clear in my heart for a while now. What is often not so clear is the exact way God desires me to live out that mission. At times it definitely feels like I am doing so in chaplaincy. Other times when finances and office politics get thrown in the mix, I start to wonder if, maybe God is calling me to another profession. Yet with the experience, training and schooling I have gotten so far, chaplaincy does seem to be the right direction and I have definitely had a number of times where I have felt used by God through it. So, until God calls me elsewhere, I will continue down the path He is showing me. After all, as my friend also encouraged me, “We should not doubt in the dark what God has shown us in the light” and I am inclined to agree with her.
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