Sunday, September 16, 2012

Reflections on the Great Job Switch

In April, I announced that I would be leaving my job at the church at the end of May.  After working there for 4 years and choosing to go only self-employed, we knew this would be a huge change.  After crunching the numbers, working through every possible option, and a lot of prayer, we made our decision. 

When you make the decision to leave a ministry, no matter how solid your decision is, the devil will try and use this against you.  He tries to convince you that you are betraying God, betraying His people, anything to get you down on your decision and use it to pull you away from your faith. 

The good thing is, when the devil tries to tear you down, and you stick to your convictions, God sends things to reassure you sometimes...but more on that in a minute.  We're now three months into my new self-employed status, and I have to say, it's amazing.  I love it.  The summer was financially tight, as we knew it would be, but we were never without enough money to pay our bills, including a rather large car repair bill.  Thank you Lord.

Now that I'm into my full time schedule, I love it.  I spend the day with wonderfully sweet children who want to learn more about music.  I love seeing the surprise on their face when they have just had a sound come out of their mouths bigger and more beautiful than it ever has before.  I love when they master a piano piece that didn't think possible, and smile with pride.  And this is just the job part!

Remember those reassurances?  Our last Sunday at church, we sat in the parking lot and cried.  We didn't want to leave all of our friends that had become our family, but we knew it's what we had to do.  Picking a new church seemed a daunting task that would take months, leaving us feeling like wanderers in the desert.  I was set to sub at a church in July, so we decided to visit it to get a lay of the land.  We immediately loved it!  Our church dilemma was solved! 

The next set of our reassurances came with job opportunities.  I've been given opportunities to sub at our new church, which lets me still play on occasion, but on my schedule.  I was picked to sing in the Schola Chamber Choir, a smaller group of Schola, which is not a huge deal, but slightly big.  :)  I was asked to travel to Midwest, a conference in Chicago, with a local band to perform, all expenses paid, right before Christmas.  Had this offer come last year, I wouldn't have been able to go due to church duties.  And my writing?  Well, it's picked up, and I've actually been commissioned to do a few things (translation:  people want to pay me for it!). 

The last major change in our house has been Sunday mornings, but I think that deserves it's own blog on another day.  I'm so thankful for all of these new and exciting things that I'm getting to do, all on my own schedule.  Definitely the right decision, no doubt about it.

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