A Glimpse.

Life here in VA is a strange animal.

There are rules and guides to follow, prescribed meals and meal times, demands of my mind and my time, forced interaction, mandated personal application times and required cultural education that has nothing to do with my new culture ... all without much detailed direction or information. The connection to the world around me is limited to what I can catch online or in a conversation with someone from home. 300 or so of us share the same space, air, water and time. We wait in the same lines, check the same books out of the library, use the same internet server and participate in the same events day in and day out. With all this “togetherness” and “aloneness” it is hard to distinguish between the reality of life and the fakeness of living here.

There are days when it is frustrating to try to figure out how this time is preparing me for my new job. I want to get there and to try things and do things and see what works and what does not work. Everyone keeps telling me that it is all trial and error with my new job – so let me get out there and try something! Instead, I am here.

Other days I can see clearly how the knowledge I am soaking up and the relationships I am building will carry me into my new job.

In all the questioning and confusion, struggle and frustration and ups and downs something awesome is coming out of this time … Me. I pray that as I am changing – being challenged and molded in the pattern of who The Father designed me to be, I can stand firm in the knowledge of “who’s I am.”