it's not just a career decision; it's a life shift.

It’s not just a career decision; it’s a life shift.

When I began working at World Relief in October 2009, I couldn’t have imagined how this job would change my life. I was introduced to a world I never knew existed just 5 miles down from where I grew up. And refugees were just the beginning of it… Everything cross-cultural. World crises. Social services. The struggle to survive.

World Relief slowly began to shape my life, my faith, my heart. At first, I worked in direct client services, doing everything from airport pickups to ESL enrollments to celebrating a newly found job. After 3.5 years, I made the transition into a more administrative role as a Finance Manager. In this position, I learned more of the whys and hows of World Relief’s mission (empowering the local Church to serve the most vulnerable). Each new role has increased my passion for refugees and particularly the Church’s responsibility in it.

I have loved working at World Relief and with refugees much more than any other job I could dream of. Theoretically I was even willing to use my entire salary towards daycare, if necessary. So when I felt this God-tug on my heart over Christmas break to be more open-handed with my job, it was a big step of faith to even consider the idea. However, I believed my God is real and present, so I committed to praying through the possibility.

I asked Brian and some close friends to pray with me, and for the first month, I felt or heard nothing. Then on January 27, the Executive Order on Immigration was signed, and that rocked my world. I realized with renewed passion how deeply my heart connected with and cared for this work, these people. And then, I knew there was no way I could intentionally walk away from my job. As I continued to pray, I don’t know when and I honestly don’t know how, but within a few weeks’ time after the EO, I felt 100% sure that I needed to leave World Relief, and I felt 100% heartbroken over this knowledge.

As I’ve walked the steps to follow through on this decision, I’ve cried a thousand tears. I cried because I still wanted it; I cried because my identity was so strongly rooted in my job; I cried because my coworkers are like family to me; and to be honest, I cried because I was afraid of this new role as a stay-at-home mom.

Through the tears though, I have felt a deep sense of peace. I can’t understand it, but I trust it. I can’t quite explain it, but it carries me. In this 3-month journey, I have trusted God in a way I’ve never done before, and therefore, have experienced God in a way I never have before. It’s been so incredibly life-giving.

As I slowed down on all the tears, I have been able to slowly embrace this change and prepare my heart for this transition. What I have been pleasantly surprised to find is summarized in these 3 points:

1.      My work with refugees doesn’t end here. I see a great need for advocacy, especially within the Church. Also, what better way to advocate for those lost and hurting than with my own children? We will finally have the time to visit refugee families together and to begin the larger conversation of ‘serving the least of these’.

2.      Being a mom is the greatest gift and responsibility. Parenting by Paul David Tripp has been a timely read, and I am challenged by my role as an ambassador, a representative of God’s grace, sacrifice, and love to my girls.

3.      I am finding God more and more real as I learn to trust Him with areas of my life I want to guard extra closely. An excerpt from Anything by Jeannie Allen reads, ‘To risk is to willingly place your life in the hand of an unseen God and an unknown future, then to watch him come through. He starts to get real when you live like that.’

This decision is not a career move; it is not even a ‘what’s best for our family’ move. It’s a God-initiated, God-trusting, God-everything move.

I don’t know what’s in store for the future; I don’t know why God placed this on my heart over Christmas. But I do know that there is nothing more important to me than following the God I know and love and trust. And here’s to that grand adventure.