Pump It Up! Live Elated, Not Deflated Through Disappointing Daysنموونە

You won’t miss the boat

After almost two years of bobbing around in my dinghy, I was suddenly catapulted into what felt like a speedboat that was going so fast my cheeks (both sets!) were flapping in the wind! My friend Carl, who works in a local high school, had been in one day in August for a summer school. A couple of people had gone in to teach the students some sign language. Carl chatted to them and told them that I was doing my level three sign language qualification. They basically said, ‘Does she need a job?’! They explained that another local high school really needed a signer to work with their deaf children.

During my dinghy days, I had cracked on learning sign language - steadily getting on with it in the background. My passion for sign language grew, and I felt really strongly about inclusion for deaf people. I began to explore jobs working with deaf people, but nothing seemed to fit around family life. I had seen the job the people told Carl about online a few months previously, and I had made some enquiries, but it was full-time, and I knew at that point that it wouldn’t work. I also felt the role was way beyond me, as it meant supporting high school-aged children in a mainstream school, and I had an idea of how complicated that kind of vocabulary would be to sign. So, I didn’t take my enquiries any further and carried on job hunting.

I love God’s kindness in bringing this job I had dismissed back to my attention. It gives me confidence that we can’t miss God’s plans for us. He has good works that he has planned in advance for us to do! If we have a genuine desire to be where he wants us to be, we can’t miss the boat. The ship that’s meant for you will come in, even if you accidentally missed it the first time. After Carl told me about his conversation at summer school, I emailed the lady I had previously enquired with, and she responded within twenty minutes. They accepted my request to work three days a week - the days when my daughter was in nursery, which wasn’t the case the first time I had enquired. The job was a perfect fit for our family life.

Reflection

Do you feel you may have missed a boat meant for you? Take encouragement from my story, that even if you dismiss a boat as not for you, God can bring it back into your harbour.