What a summer it has been.
My first summer "in the real world" I guess you could say. And boy have there been some curve balls! An unexpected trip to Colorado, youth ministry and many adventures in between. Passed my 1 year anniversary working with Anderson PT.
I never intended to be a physical therapist. And I still don't really intend to be defined as a physical therapist.
I'm still a little confused how I got here, but God has a funny way of doing that sometimes.
My best friend in Colorado challenged me to pray about doing wilderness ministry with our youth here in South Carolina. This has opened up doors and dreams, hopes that I dare not allow myself to think about without tearing up with joy. Right now I may have a chance to do wilderness ministry, taking our beloved teenagers out into the woods for a week to spend time in community away from technology marveling at God's creation and talking about Jesus. I was watching a movie tonight that panned a picture of the Canadian Rockies and I lost my breath. Later I was playing a random playlist and some old favorites came on, including one that included these lyrics that put into words the emotion I felt in that moment as well as when adventuring in the wilderness:
I see the eagle swim the canyon sea
Creation yawns in front of me
Oh Lord, I never felt so small
And I don't believe that I believed
In You as deeply as today
I reckon what I'm saying is
There's nothing more
Nothing more to say
And the mountains sing Your glory hallelujah
The canyons echo sweet amazing grace
My spirit sails
The mighty gales are bellowing
Your name
And I've got nothing to say
No, I've got nothing to say
Beyond that, there is a chance to go to Honduras on a short term mission trip, and then I am praying about a longer term trip to Tenwek in Kenya. After that, who knows! I would hope back to Anderson.
And I love my job, I really do. I love my co-workers. I have so enjoyed working with my patients and have been reminded especially this week of how amazing it is to be an instrument to help people get better. But I have grown restless. When I think of me years down the road working still at this clinic in this setting, that person seems like a stranger. I never intended to be a physical therapist. In the whirlwind that brought me to physical therapy school, I stepped out in faith with my goal to serve God and confident somehow that physical therapy was a vessel, a tool, a gift He could use to do that. It's hard to put into words. A career or profession often defines a person. Most of my classmates, their dream and goal in life was physical therapy. While I find it interesting and enjoy it, I feel like it is a very small part of who I am and my calling. Perhaps next summer will be the next step. Until then, I dare not move from where God has me until I fully learn what He has brought me here to learn. Though it has been refreshing that past few months for that hope and passion for the plans He has for me to be re-ignited.
So who knows, but "my spirit sails and I've got nothing left to say." :-)
