Answering the call

For me, I knew my calling was to change lives.  How I was going to change lives became very clear to me in high school.  Throughout my education, I had some of the best teachers who gave me in inspiration to become an educator.  I began my post-high school education at Fort Scott Community College (answering the call).  I loved FSCC and actually stayed three years.  I then went on down to Pittsburg State University and obtained my degree in education.  Life, took me down a path in the business world for a few years; however, I would not change those life experiences as I met so many wonderful people who have become lifelong friends.

By chance, a position opened up at FSCC as the Director of the MILL (now Student Success Center).  I walked into that interview so under prepared.  I was overwhelmed by the job duties, the interview itself, and the quality of personnel on the interview committee.  Leaving the interview, I felt there was no way I would get the job.  However, God knew where he wanted me to be.  Again, I was answering the call.  What got me the job was my compassion, my understanding, and my deep belief that I was meant to influence and change the lives of the students at FSCC.

That was 12 years ago.  Today, I am answering the call on a daily basis.  God placed me here to touch lives, and He calls upon to do so many different things.  I may be but a listening ear, a friend, or a person to borrow $.25 from, but I am here.  I have touched many lives in these 12 years answering the call.

Another way that I have answered God’s call is being a caregiver.  Years ago, my great aunt was dying.  It took a tremendous amount of courage for her son to bring her to my mom and me so that we could care for her.  She passed away at my mother’s house, but she passed surrounded by those who loved her….answering the call.  My dad became ill in 1998.  He had cancer.  My mother and I took him in and cared for him daily.  Did I want to see my dad bald and bloated from the cancer that was throughout his body, no but I was answering the call.  My grandmother became ill in 2008 and luckily my mother was able to take care of her and be paid for it.  Fortunately, there were several of us taking care of grandma at that time and she was able to pass peacefully at her home.  Answering the call.

Taking care of a loved one as they transition from this earthly life to their Heavenly life is one of the highest honors one can receive.  Answering the call.  I now find myself answering the call one more time as I visit my mother at the care facility she is in.  I have fed her, changed her, cleaned her teeth, wiped her nose, her eyes, and so many, many other things.  Do I have to do this, no.  I want to do these things.  She did them for me my entire life, now it is my turn to take care of her.

We never know what God is going to call upon us to do.  For many years, I felt as though I never really heard him calling.  It was only when I was so sick and I opened myself up to God and to listening to him closely that I heard His call.  Yesterday, as I left my doctor’s office, God was calling to me.  I have a friend who has health issues and I believe that my doctor can help her.  She is facing a family crisis right now and has placed her health on the back burner.  God urged me to reach out to her, and I did.  This feeling is so powerful.  I can only describe it as a second sense or an instinct.  God gave me the courage to be open about my health and to share my issues.  In turn, I have been able to send two more friends to my doctor.  He is a man of great faith.  God is using him to help those of us who have been to so many doctors and have left with no answers.  Answering the call.

I have wanted to write for a very long time now, and God definitely gave me a story to tell.  I have a story half-written about picking blackberries, but today He was once again impressing upon me to write about answering His call.  I am working hard to become a master gardener and cook.  I already do not eat any processed or fast food, but I am trying to make other staple items that I buy in a store such as ketchup.  I want to be self-sustaining.  I want to educated others on how putting toxic foods into your system such as processed food, is in reality, poisoning your body.  If you have aches and pains, allergies, stomach issues, hair loss; any of these can be contributed to what you put into your body.  I am not a nutritionist nor am I in the medical field.  This is what I have learned over the past four years with my health issues.  Those times were a lesson, a lesson to be shared.  If I can help even one person; then, I have answered His call.

Until next week,

D