Sunday, November 12, 2017

Storms and the Unknown

Do you ever have those days when you wonder what in the world is happening around you?  Times when you feel you're following God's leading, yet roadblock after roadblock pops up? Or times when your decisions cause other issues that have negative affects in your life? I recently told a group of dear friends how I feel that there's a storm brewing in my life's future. The winds of which are picking up all sorts of random situations in my life and creating some pretty significant unknowns.

During my life, I have struggled with feeling at home anywhere. I have lived in five different states, in more than 20 different homes. The first time I ever felt homesick was at 24yrs old after my firstborn was four months old and I had taken him to meet family in the state where I grew up. I had only lived in Washington for two years, yet missed it horribly while we were gone. In those two years, the Puget Sound area had become my home. Even when my best friend and I purchased our home in 2003, I realized that I did not feel this house was my home. Fast forward to the past four years since I opened my private practice in a rural part of a different county from where I live. Eventually I began realizing how much I felt at home in this city. Every time I leave for the drive home, something just feels wrong, like I'm going away from my home, not TO my home. Then when I'm driving around the rural city, something feels right. All of that to say that my family has decided to sell our home after 14-1/2yrs and relocate to the little rural city where i work. I truly never thought that I would ever move again.

When we purchased this house, I actually told my children to just bury me in the backyard,

that I never wanted to move again. HAHA!! My son says he is shocked that we are moving out of the home where he spent his teen years and where my daughter was raised. This involves much packing of oh so many boxes and boxes and boxes. Also, a question that many people have asked, is where exactly are we moving. Well..... we don't have that figured out yet. Are we going to purchase a house in this limited inventory and seller's market or are we going to rent a home for the short term until something we're interested in pops up? I have absolutely no idea. The only thing I do know is that we are hoping to put the house on the market within a week and do not anticipate it taking long to sell. SO between our realtor and mortgage broker, we may be living in a rental home or our own new home by the end of 2017. BIG change and HUGE unknown.

Another large change and unknown is the future of my practice. 
A colleague and good friend even put in hours of work to create a new logo for me. A wonderful new logo!! I love it!! I felt
very strongly that I was supposed to expand into a larger suite of four offices, a lobby, and a kitchen. This involved more than tripling my business expenses. While I do have another Christian social worker on board with me, it is taking a bit longer than anticipated for her business to take off for her to work full-time. I also thought I may have begun working with an intern or two by now. There is such a massive need for more people to provide mental health services to those in our area. SO many teens who are struggling, marriages that are on the edge of a cliff, and families that are divided in difficult ways for numerous reasons. I field many phone calls from people in the community and from insurance companies who are attempting to access care. Care that is a challenge to find due to full caseloads, high insurance deductibles or lack of enough providers that are paneled with all of the insurances. I have pretty decent boundaries, however it is horribly painful to have to turn people down due to a full caseload or the client is not a good fit for my type of therapy. You see, I don't work with children under middle school or with older adults. There is a need for my practice to expand. Yet I often wonder how I can expect to continually afford this increase in expenses.

Another endeavor has been becoming certified as a Youth Mental Health First Aid 
trainer. It cost  a great deal of money to undergo this training so we can attempt to help people know
how to work with youth. We are losing entirely too many youth to suicide. So many youth who want only to be understood. They are the future of our community. We MUST learn how to interact with them. To encourage them, mentor them. Learn how to communicate with them. I have found a strong passion for this idea. My frustration is that while a lot of people express interest in this training, it has been quite difficult to schedule enough people to take the training. I almost feel crazy because I recently registered to take the Adult Mental Health First Aid instructor training after the first of the year. Also not cheap, yet also very important for the community. I have to wonder at what point these trainings will produce the needed results, as I feel in some way that this is a large part of my ministry to the community. To love and support, to educate, and hopefully
inspire people to make a difference in the lives of people who are hurting and struggling.

These scenarios are all taking up a significant portion of my life at this current moment. 
And I have not mentioned the recent death of a good friend to cancer, at 45yrs old - FAR too young.....and the anticipated death of my best friend's 45yr old sister who is currently on hospice care due to other health issues. And then another good friend who just got the cancer diagnosis and is struggling to even find treatment due to not having health insurance.... Super scary. Since my divorce, I have often desired to find a man in my life, but to be honest, right now, I am grateful that I am not married. My mind and my life is taken up by all of this that I don't know how much I would have left for a relationship with a partner. What about the fear (valid or not, it still sits there) of the cancer returning in my body? They are taking up my time, my finances, and much of my mind power. My desire is to walk where God is calling me to walk. To go where He is leading me. Then I remember my word for the year. Being steadfast. God's steadfast love.

Steadfast - firmly fixed in place, immovable, not subject to change, firm in belief, determination, or adherence, loyal  








"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."  ~ 1 Corinthians 15:58
"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" ~ Psalm 107:1

While it often feels like a storm is brewing outside of my life recently, I believe it will behoove me to keep this in mind. To keep my focus on God, on my calling, and take my days step by step. To know that God will keep His promises and never forsake me, never leave me. That if He is calling us to move to a new home, HE will work out the logistics. If HE is calling for changes to my business, then HE will take care of the conflicts. And if HE is calling me to certain purposes, then I might recognize that I have to walk the walk God has provided light on for me to walk. God is also the calmer of the storms. He can calm the storm OR He can calm me. 







all contents (c) 2017 Laura Inglis

1 comment:

  1. Love ya Girl! Good thoughts, great processing! Keep it up��

    ReplyDelete