With the exception of people closest to me, I’ve been mostly quiet about the changes that have been taking place in my life over the past year. While I’m not intentionally private, when I enter transition phases (especially those that I don’t understand), I tend to retreat into the sanctity of my home as my peace during my storm. Those closest to me are used to going days, weeks, and sometimes even months without a word, even when they see through the social media facade of posts that are more business than pleasure.
Last year, after celebrating 10 years in Education, I made the decision to resign from my school district and position as a school counselor and move to Chicago. My goal was to buy a property, renovate it to make rental units, and to focus on my travel business and goals as an author for the first year. So at the end of the school year, I packed up my office without a public announcement outside of my school, close friends, and family and began to downsize my life to prepare for my move after a two week trip to Egypt, South Africa, and Dubai with my sisters.
Fast forward to August. My eating habits could stand some improvement, so I’m frequently plagued by things like heartburn, due to my love of spicy foods, and the occasional loss of appetite, which I joke is the reason it took me such a long time to break into the 110 pounds and over club. Plus, I was dealing with so many stressors in my personal life that I just assumed all of my symptoms were stress related, and I failed to notice that the heartburn and loss of appetite had been accompanied by weight loss. Long story short, the symptoms that I hadn’t given a second thought were warning signs that a bacteria called h pylori had been trapped in my stomach for months slowly destroying my stomach lining and esophagus lining causing esophagitis, gastritis, and a few other itis’s that I don’t care to remember. And in the midst of it all, my insurance with Alief was coming to an end and due to my recent diagnosis, every insurance policy for which I applied was denied due to this “pre-existing” condition.
My recent diagnosis came with a harsh medical regimen that had the tough job of not only killing the bacteria in my stomach but rebuilding my stomach and esophagus lining, as well. Between the 10-12 pill daily medicine regimen and the unavoidable side effects like frequent nausea and hair loss, a door to a serious bout of depression opened that I’m still trying to overcome. However, while I was spending days in bed, without a desire to get up or talk to anyone, God was in the background working it all out on my behalf.
There are some events that occur in your life that you know were orchestrated by something bigger than you, and the last few months have been a reminder that God will never leave or forsake you, even in the midst of a storm. While I was at home going through my new routine of spending hours in bed and shutting out the world, I received a phone call from my school district asking whether I would mind substituting at one of our elementary schools due to a counselor being on maternity leave. I decided to take the position to at least get out of the house and to have something to keep my mind busy. And while there, my partner counselor that I only knew through a mutual friend became a God-send and a friend friend. About 2 months into trying to understand the woes of elementary school counseling, I received a call to fill another vacant position at one of our middle schools until they were able to find a full time counselor that was bilingual. It just so happens that one of my closest friends had been hired as a school counselor at this campus a few months prior, and I would not only be next door to her, but also a few doors down from administrators on that campus that I was grateful enough to call my friends, as well.
That was only the beginning, and while I could go on and on about the goodness of God during this season, I’m not yet ready to write another novel. In December, without studying, I passed my Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) exam that will allow me to open a private practice in 18 months, granted I’ve fulfilled the 3000 supervision hours. I know people that have taken off of their job for months to study, but I was in such a bad mental space, that I missed the reschedule date and had to either take my test or forfeit $250. Passing that test was nothing but God, and that’s not even where the testimony ends. In January, I received a clean bill of health, and in March, the same principal that was set on hiring someone bilingual, offered the position to me. In April, while looking for a mental health facility to get clinical hours towards my supervision, a friend passed along not an internship position, but a paid position that will not only allow me to still get hours while I’m off in the summer, but enough extra to be debt free by the end of the summer.
And while some days are still touch and go, I’m still grateful that I serve a God that sees the best in me and that still moves on my behalf, even in my darkest hours. In every lesson in this season, there has been a blessing, and while my plan was not HIS, I was reminded that he will never leave you or forsake you.
