Lord, show me why you have brought me here.

Hi friends!

It's a chilly evening here in my office in Liberton, but at least the sun was out earlier! The leaves can't quite compare with Ohio, but there is still a multitude of color out there. 

I was able to get home to Ohio for a sunny, delightful, autumnal week in October, bookended by a friend's wedding and CCS's Fall Banquet/20th anniversary celebration. It was an amazing and packed week, and included so many great things (like picking my nephew Ben up from kindergarten! and teaching English at CCS! and bossing students around at the Fall Banquet!) and so many mundane, familiar things...fast food drive-thru has never been so exciting. :)

For as lovely as it was, though, at no point did I regret moving to Scotland, or wish that I didn't have to go back. I guess the best way to describe it would be wishing I could be in two places at once, and somehow merge these two worlds. Though when I think about it, that's a familiar feeling anyway- I still feel that about college, and about several missions teams, especially the one last summer at the London Olympics. 

Lord, show me why you have brought me here.

The "Messy Church" skit of Jesus calming the storm- a great "crew"!

Increasingly, I feel like I have a handle on the regular tasks of being a Children's Worker at Liberton Kirk- the Sunday clubs, Sunday "Buzz" once a month, helping with "Messy Church" once a month, doing a monthly All-Age talk during the Sunday church service, the after-school "Transformers" program at a local elementary school- all things that I've done at least twice now. We're also looking ahead to the Christmas children's service, which I'm in charge of, so I'm putting the finishing touches on a Nativity script and that will be under way soon. It'll be lovely to do a bit of directing again, and really, you just cannot lose with toddler sheep and lisping angels! :-)

Events like...a girls movie night! :-)

I've also just received my own account with Young Life, so I'm praying and working through my approach to fundraising a part-time salary for my work here. I've probably explained this, but I really have two separate jobs- one with Liberton Kirk as a Children's Worker 12 hrs a week (doing all the things in the paragraph above, with an hourly wage), and then as part-time staff with Young Life 20 hours a week (doing teenage-focused relational outreach work in the schools, two weekly evening clubs, and other events, as well as some training time). For the latter, I'll be asking friends and family to help support those 20 hours of work, and doing my best to share what God is doing over here. So, the next post will have more specifics about what the YL work looks like, and I'll also share some testimonies of how God has been taking care of me financially in the interim. (Most people raise support and then work, but I'm doing it a bit backwards!)

Lord, show me why you have brought me here.

As you may have gathered by now, that question has been on the front of my mind, especially since returning from Ohio a few weeks. I'm feeling more competent with much of the "what" in my jobs, and working on the "how", but really, the "why" is what matters. Both Liberton Kirk and Young Life have lots of existing structures for me to fit into, but I've been asking the Lord to show me how my gifts, experience, words, knowledge, personality, and identity are to be used. Why me? Why now? Why here? Why them? 

At home and at CCS, I knew exactly who I was to other people, and what I could offer, and how, and when. Which is why it was so delightful, for a week, to slip back into that and feel confidence in myself and from others that I knew what I was doing. It takes time to build that up somewhere new, and also grace from others and especially from myself. But I can feel the roots slowly starting to grow again.

I had a spontaneous coffee date with my new friend Nikki last night after an event at the church, and as we chatted, I started to realize ways that I can reach out more to specific people, and areas and relationships where I think I may have something to offer. It was eye-opening, and really an answer to the prayer, "Lord, show me why you have brought me here". And it was just great to share coffee with a friend! :-)

Five of us share an office in a house room...fun times! :-)

I feel like I have so many other thoughts swirling around, but if I wait until they all settle to post this, then it will be another several weeks!...and I don't want that. One thing I would love to do soon is "introduce" you to the other people in my office and YL volunteers, because we really are a delightful little team, if I do say so myself, and it would give more of a flavor of what my life is like over here. It's been encouraging and relaxing to feel friendships deepen, and to spend time sharing food, tea, phone chargers, games, moccasins, cars....life together. :-) Yep, I definitely need to capture that somehow here, because it has been a huge blessing. 

Ok, time to head home for the night, and see what's on the dinner menu...actually, it really is salmon and venison sausage tonight! Better watch a Poirot too. :-)

Verse of the night:

"21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." Eph. 2:21-22

(There's a lot of food for thought there!...)

God bless you, friends! 

~Rachel