Our Journey

This blog and the ones to follow in the next few days or weeks is my story on how God has clearly worked in the life of the Easterlings. This journey began June 19, 2008 when Pat was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The journey is still continuing and we are watching it unfold. If you want to read about the beginning of the journey, click on the link below: http://paigespetals.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

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It has been eight weeks since I have started working full time at my church after 16 years as a stay-at-home mom. Most of you know that I have piddled with various jobs while at home (Mary Kay, Herbal Life, Medical Transcription, and my floral design business). It was difficult for me to get the hang of getting back into the "work" routine. Most of all, it was surreal. I had heard about a job that was opening up at my church in October as the webmaster and I agreed to start then. Well in May, one of my dearest friends, Marilyn, had another job offer working out of her home. She told me about her offer and we both got the same idea: that I should fill her position until October. Marilyn and I have been prayer partners for several years and we both felt that God was at work here and it was making way for me to step into her job and make it easier for her to leave. I was offered the job, but I needed to pray about it and discuss with Pat. That following Sunday night our Life Group met and I shared with them about praying about starting work sooner than I had planned because of the job opening at church. One of our life group members told me about a job opening as a meeting planner at his job which was my employer those 16 years ago. My reply was "I really don't know if corporate is where I want to be and it is easier to just ignore the corporate job openings." Well, Monday morning I received an email from him with the job description. It fit me perfectly. Wow! I was excited. I applied online that evening. In my mind I was trying to decide which job I wanted before I even got a call from the company for an interview. What to do? I prayed for wisdom and discernment and waited. Let's fast forward a few days. I had received an email from Tracie, who is also in my life group, suggesting a book that was really being talked about. I saved the email. While G was at basketball practice I drove to the Christian bookstore to find a book. Most of the time when I am in a book store I pray for God to show me the next book he has for me. God has used many Christian authors to speak to me and I can make a list of most of those books. They were usually just the book I needed to grow. So, I prayed the prayer and then remembered the email Tracie had sent me. Right there on the shelf was the book: "The Hole In Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision. Bare with me as I give you a quick summary of the book as it won't make sense unless I do. Stearns was a corporate executive with stints at Gillette, Parker Brother Games and Lenox, America's fine tableware and gift company. He was President of Parker Brothers at age 33 and subsequently president and CEO of Lenox. Following a sense on God's call on his life, he resigned his position at Lenox and became World Vision's U.S. President. This was a very difficult decision for him to make and in the first of the book he describes his anguish as he tried to deny God's calling on this move. One of his paragraphs in his book spoke very clearly to me......page 46. Richard Stearns says "As you might imagine, events like this didn't happen every day in my life. I immediately remembered something Renee (his wife) had said to me about two months earlier, just as I had begun talking with World Vision. She said she believed that at the moment of decision, a great temptation would be put in my path---a financial lure--that would threaten to prevent me from going to World Vision." I stopped right there after I read that. Tears swelled in my eyes and I knew then that God was telling me what to do. I was never more sure of anything in my life. The corporate job was the financial lure because of the better pay, the prestigious job, and it was what I was experienced in. I also remember reading that an open door is not necessarily from God and I had been thinking about that. The church was where God wanted me. Most of my free time is in the church teaching Women's Job Corp, singing on the Praise Team, coordinating the Promises Christmas dinner and various committees. I made my decision to take the job at church and called Pat who was out of town. (Most of the major decisions that we have ever made he was out of town and it is an inside joke between us). He replied with his famous line "who am I to argue with the Man upstairs". I got dressed and drove to the church and accepted the job. Did I ever hear from the corporation in regard to the opening? No. My prayer from the beginning when all of this began was that I would not get a call from them if it wasn't His will for me to work there. So after I accepted the job, I asked God again to not have them call me. They never called!

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To be continued......

Hugs!