Winds of Change

I have about four weeks left at my old job as a social worker. It's not too busy at the moment so I'm finding it really hard to concentrate. My mind is full of things that have to do with my new job and I would just like to focus on that. I think I'll have to try to convince myself that these four weeks will go fast...it's already Wednesday, after all....

Another thing that I should be thinking about is my dissertation. I haven't done anything about it for two months. I have promised myself that I will have 80 pages written by the time I start at my new job. The current page count is 55, so it's very doable. If only I could put my mind into it!

This autumn still seems a little surreal in my head. After six years of studying and working I will suddenly be doing something compeletely different. I keep thinking about the challenges I will have to face and things I will have to learn. Tiny little practical details bounce around in my thoughts and I have dozens of mental notes under the title "things to ask".

Change is inevitable. I don't think I'll be the same at the end of this year as I am now. So much will have happened around me and in me. I could be afraid, but I'm not. I believe that change is good. I pray that I could grow in this task that God has given me. I pray that I would fill my place and have as much strength and wisdom as I need. I pray that I could be more fully the person he has meant me to be.

It's a good thing that God always keeps his promises:

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you." Psalms 32:8

We have a visual

My hands are shaking. I have seen the bridge. And it's beautiful!

It was confirmed today that I will serve God full-time starting in August. I will be working for a Christian organisation called Logos Ministries (Kansan Raamattuseura in Finnish) and my mission will be the students and young adults of Tampere.

On this day I'm living proof that dreams do come true. This is something I have dreamed of for almost ten years. And now it's finally time to live the promises. To breathe freely and be the person I have always been. The sense of fullfillment and joy is overwhelming. And at the same time I know that worries and disappointments will come and when they do, God will be as loyal as He is today.

The words of Robert Frost's poem tell it as it is:

I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I -
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I also want to share a coupple of pictures taken last fall on our alpha-course for students. This is something that will keep me busy this fall as well. Except it will be a part of my job:)

Above: Playing a game with concentration. Myself with the pigtails!

Below: Holy Communion at an outdoors chappel.