So what’s the plan? What’s next for me? I’m not 100% sure…but I have some ideas.
Since the announcement in December I’ve had a lot of thoughts about what I would like to do for income next. My ideas on new jobs have ranged from working for the UN or State Department to Starbucks because I was told they give you health insurance if you work just 20 hours a week.
With my interest in living overseas, last year I began looking into opportunities to work in other countries. I found entire communities dedicated to Digital Nomads who are folks who are able to work from anywhere in the world. I found sites like Workaway and HelpX which let you exchange work for lodging all around the world. I even ran across a fabulous community for Christian women travelers called TravelHer which is great inspiration.
Also last year someone left a brochure for an organization called NICS in our breakroom. I wrote about this in a previous blog post here (see #3). As providence would have it, I was out on their website in January and discovered that their annual teacher recruitment event was schedule for February. I was able to attend, hear from the directors of the schools, and even have a very positive interview with the director of the school in my country of particular interest. The next steps are waiting on the official notice about the buyout coming in April.
As an entrepreneurially-minded person with a couple of active side hustles (OliviaAndRuby & GreatIdeaGirl), I’ve thought about the odds that either or both of these ventures could become self-supporting with the infusion of a little capital and a lot more time dedicated to growing the business. I’ve also had some new business ideas that I’d put on the shelf because of a lack of time to work on them.
So there are a lot of options spinning around in my head about what to do next. I’m dedicating this waiting period to seeking God’s will for my next chapter with prayer and some fasting. I love how God puts things together. First, the Lord told me to re-commit myself to surrender in December. A few weeks later my pastor told the congregation what the Lord gave him for us to focus in the new year – Surrendering All. Lastly, our Sunday school lesson for January 13th was on Surrender and was taken from James 3:13 – 18. My teacher asked me to review the lesson and you can read my notes on it here.
It’s clear the Lord’s message to me is to surrender this phase of my life to His providential care and direction. I welcome your prayers and I would love to pray for you if you too are in a season of change. I would love to hear your story!
