Today I decided I would do the Witness Wednesday as it has been a while since I have done one and God has definitely been working in my life. I think it is just as important to talk about the little ways God is working in our lives as it is to talk about the big ways He is working in our lives. Today I will give you an update on how I can see Him blessing me and my life. We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Today I decided I would do the Witness Wednesday as it has been a while since I have done one and God has definitely been working in my life. I think it is just as important to talk about the little ways God is working in our lives as it is to talk about the big ways He is working in our lives. Today I will give you an update on how I can see Him blessing me and my life.
First, I will start with Noah going off to school. Noah applied to schools pretty late in the year compared to when I remember applying to schools. He also didn’t apply to a lot of schools. He knew where he wanted to go, so he just applied to a handful of schools. Noah’s dream was to go overseas, and so most of the schools he applied to were in the United Kingdom. (England, Scotland, & Wales). Noah decided to go to Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. He found this out at the beginning of June. This meant we had three months to get all of the stuff in order so he could get there on time.
Going to school in another country is a lot of work, at least initially. We had so many hoops to jump through. We had to do all the regular stuff like find a place to live and register. However, it just seemed so much harder than I remember it being. He also needed to do things I didn’t have to do when I went to school in the states, like get a visa. It was a long and tiring procedure, but the Lord was with us through all of it.
For instance by the time we figured everything out and were able to apply for his visa it was August 14th. However they said the visa could take up to 15 working days to come in. If it took 15 working days then he wouldn’t be able to arrive in country until his first day of classes. This would have been ok, but he would likely have missed at least one day of classes while we got him settled in. However, thanks to the Lord, and the good people at the passport place, we got his visa back in about one week. We were not able to buy plane a plane ticket until we had it back. So once it came were were able to find pretty affordable tickets as well.
I got to go with Noah to get him settled into school. I was nervous about leaving Noah in another country where he didn’t know anyone. I am sure most moms feel this way when their kids go off to school. However, I had the added worry of it being in another country. Thanks to the Lord, I was able to mostly focus on the fact that this was an awesome adventure for Noah and that he was going to have such a great time. However, I still hated that he was all alone. The second day we were there we went to their “Walmart” like store where they have a post office. We had to go here to try and pick up Noah’s residency permit. While we were shopping around we met another student there. He happened to also be going to Napier.
He and Noah talked and they are both engineering majors. Not the same type of engineering, but that meant they would both be walking to the same campus from their dorms. They also found out of all the doors they have at Napier they would be living in the same building, just one floor apart. It was pretty cool! We also met his parents and exchanged info. Now, suddenly I wasn’t doing all of this alone. They were there to help along the way. We both sent text messages at the end of the day with what we had accomplished that day and any new information we found out. It was super helpful. Thank you Lord.
Noah moved into his dorm on a Saturday and I went home on Monday morning. Saturday morning we took and Uber over to the dorm and moved his clothes and stuff he brought from home in. Then we spend the day shopping and getting the rest of what he needed. Then we went out and got some food also as he is living in an apartment and there is no meal plan there. The next day we went to lunch and more grocery shopping. Then I had to say goodbye. That was hard, and yet I know the Lord is with Him and that this is going to be an amazing year for him, and I am so excited for all he will get to experience.
Next I want to tell you all about my new jobs. It is funny how the Lord works, because I knew this fall was going to be some kind of breakthrough. I knew something was going to change, I just didn’t know what. I had been praying about going back to work outside of the home. I decided I would go back to substitute teaching a few days a week. It would be a way where I could help contribute to the family income more than I have been and with Noah in school and Sam having his license, I only really have to drive Ryan around these days.
One morning I was out to breakfast with a friend of mine and she mentioned she was looking to hire more coaches at her job. She told me about the job and it sounded great. I would be coaching people with autism. It was perfect for me as I love coaching and I love helping people. It felt like an answer to prayers as I really didn’t want to give up coaching and get having your own coaching practice takes a lot of time to build and over the last few years I decided I wanted to spend more time with the kids while they were still at home with me. This was perfect because I still get to coach but I don’t have to find my own clients. This means I will have more time to spend with my family.
I was excited about both of these jobs and felt like the Lord had really taken care of all my needs. I did feel like I would still like to do some more ministry type work but that I would figure that out once both my jobs started and I could see how much time I would have left. I begin my coaching job in two weeks, so we will see what kind of time commitment that is. It is supposed to be 5-20 hours of coaching per week, but depending on how much I am driving it could be more than that. I was happy with how things were going.
One day out of the blue a friend from my Encounter Ministries class reached out and said she had a possible job offer if I was interested in hearing more about it. She said it would be working with women who have a homeless ministry. They live together and go out and do this ministry together. Their is a priest that overseas the ministry, however, they were looking for a woman who could be like a house mom or a spiritual mother to these young women. I was so excited when I heard about this opportunity. I love helping people along on their spiritual journey and I love that they do homeless ministry as the Lord has put that on my heart as well.
I talked with my friend all about it and then she passed my name onto the priest in charge. He gave me a call and we both felt like it would be a great opportunity for me and for the young women. I wondered it if would be too much with the jobs I had just taken and the priest said he was thinking about 3 hours per week. It sounded perfect. One of my passions is healing ministry. I am sure if you have listened to several of my podcast episodes you have heard me talk about healing in one way or another. The priest said he is going to do a study with the ladies in the home using the Bob Shutes “Be Healed” prayer model. This is about healing the whole self. I read the book for my Encounter Ministries quarter on inner healing and it was amazing. So, not only do I get to do what I love, which is walk spiritually with these women, but I also get to sit in on this study and learn more about healing. God is so good. He knew not only what I need, to stay coaching and yet make money, but also what I longed for, which is to walk with people on their spiritual journey.
The last thing I want to witness to is what happened when I was lucky enough to meet these women on Monday. They invited me into their home for evening prayer, mass, dinner, and the start of the Bob Shutes video series. It was such a beautiful time and these ladies are so kind and caring. They made me feel so warm and welcomed. They were happy to see me and that felt so great! They didn’t even know me and yet were so so kind.
After dinner was over while they were clearing the dishes somehow we got on the topic of healing. I mentioned how I prayed over my aunt and the Lord healed the pain in her foot. One of the ladies said she had just been thinking about the pain in her foot and asked if I would pray sometime for her. I told her we could do it before I left. Another one of the ladies said the doctor just confirmed that she had a sprained ligament in her left wrist. It was funny to me as it was the same sort of pain that my son Ryan is having in his left wrist.
First I prayed over her foot. I prayed for just a minute or two and asked her what she was feeling. She said tingling in her hands. I asked her to move her foot around, to walk on it and see if there was any change. She said the pain was gone. She was in awe at the power of God. She really couldn’t believe it was gone. She said it was a really weird feeling. Next, I prayed over the sprained wrist. I prayed for a few minutes and asked what she was feeling. She was honest and said she was feeling skepticism in her heart. I asked if she wanted to renounce that the spirit of doubt and she said yes. then I ask if anything else was coming up. She renounced the belief that Jesus didn’t care about something as little as her sprained wrist. I asked her to ask Jesus where He was right now, and she felt like He said, “in your wrist.” I asked her to test out her wrist. To move it around in the way that previously hurt her. She did and the pain was completely gone. She was in awe, all the ladies were. It was so hard to believe that God cares about our little pains as it wasn’t super painful. Both ladies said the pain was about a four out of ten. So, not unbearable and yet, when we ask God, He answers.
It was such an amazing experience meeting these ladies and getting to spend a few hours with them. In just a few hours I could tell what extraordinary women they all are. I could see Christ shining through them and I could see how much the love the Lord. I am not sure what is in store for me and these ladies and yet I know I will be seeing them again and that God has something amazing planned for all of us. I can see that He is blessing their ministry and blessing them and it is beautiful.
I hope when you hear this you can see how God as working in all of this. I hope this helps you see how God is working in your life as well. It doesn’t have to be in big ways, like getting to witness God healing. It can be in the little things, like getting the visa back in time so we could get plane tickets so Noah could be there for the start of classes. I am grateful for all the ways God is working in my life. There have been so many things even just over the last few months. I will do another witness Wednesday soon, as I have forgotten how great it feels to look back over your life and see all the ways God is working in it. He is such a good good father. Thank you Lord!