God Sighting Challenge Entries Part 1

Hello Readers! (:

Here are some of the entries that we received in the God Sighting Challenge over the last 2 weeks. Over the next few weeks, expect to see more of the entries!

"Lately, I've been trying to figure out what direction I should take next career-wise.  I am 19 (I will be 20 in May), and I have a passion for impacting the media and entertainment industries for Christ.  However, I've felt for several years that God was directing me not to pursue those things I loved most, but to work in the medical field.  Not wanting to be like a Jonah and disobey the commands He placed in my heart, I've been pursuing becoming a Registered Nurse, and became a Medication Aide at my work place (another small miracle that God worked out, but that's another story).  Yet, I've always sensed this calling to the medical field to be temporary.

I can't say that I've gone without experiencing frustration while obeying God, but during this time of a confusing "ill-fit" between my natural gifting and the direction I've been heading, I've been waiting on God to show me what steps to take next and trying not to get discouraged at His unique methods of mapping out my life.  I've continued to pursue something I don't particularly enjoy, and have been re-submitting to enter a local Registered Nursing program (it can take up to 2 years in California to get accepted into an R. N. program due to a teacher shortage).

Today at work it was a slow day, and I had some time to read the Bible.  I read verses about God's unfailing love, and how He keeps His promises and gives good things to those that love and obey Him.  I prayed and asked God for some serious direction.  I needed something blatant, something tangible, telling me what to do about this whole medical thing- did He want me to continue to pursue this, or not?  Sometimes it helps to be specific in your requests to God.  He may choose not to answer immediately, but He always gives results.   

As I was just in the middle of this, one of my bosses came over to me.  She had just finished her prayer time (one of the perks about my job is that it is a very God-centered environment).  After starting up a conversation, she asked me about my career objectives.  I have known her since I was 13, and her questions about what I want to become were routine, and my answers routine as well.  I was going to become a nurse and travel.  The answer did morph over time- it became a psych-nurse as I became interested in psychology, and a part-time psych nurse as I began to feel that God would not be calling me into a full-time medical position regardless of how long the position would last.  Yet the answer remained nearly the same.

My boss asked me what my career objective was. I said something like do whatever God wants me to do wherever He wants me to go. She said that's a vocation.  Fair enough!  So she asked again.  Yet this time, my answer did not come as easily as it had done in the past.  I found myself saying that I wasn't sure, and in response, she told me that she didn't see me becoming a nurse, and that I don't seem to enjoy my job.  She didn't say this in a mean or accusatory manner, but in a friendly and interested way.  Her words did not injure me, but were a huge encouragement.  My boss said that she had been watching my medication work, and though I do the best job I can and with a joyful attitude, I believe she noticed a distinction in my soul.  While she didn't say as much, I realized it myself: my joy at work comes in spite of, not because of what I do.  My work has commitment, but not passion- sort of a "going through the motions" feel.  Like in a marriage between two people, a marriage of commitment but void of passion and enthusiasm may yield a strong bond, but hardly a quality one.  This is like how we can be loyal to God and claim Him as the Creator of the universe without being truly passionate about Him.  We can believe the Bible without being compelled to love Him.  Similarily, I do well at my work, and am loyal to my good job, but this devotion doesn't spill over into enthusiasm.

I just don't get joy out of the medical work that I do the way others do that are called into the field permanently.  Sometimes I have been jealous of this passion when I have seen it in others.  I've tried to mimic it.  I've tried to adopt it.  I've tried everything, but it just doesn't stick.  Don't misunderstand - I love to smile and to sing at work, and am a generally positive and optimistic person.  Yet my work detracts from, rather than contributing to, this happiness.  

I do not know what steps to take next in life, and I have recently been prayerfully asking God whether He still wants me to pursue becoming a nurse.
I realize that my calling into the medical field is temporary, I've just always been uncertain as to how temporary.  When do I know that God is ready to steer me in another direction?  Sometimes I hear His direction in His word, reminding me that He is faithful, as I did this afternoon.  Other times, God can be more blatant, gently confirming His plans through others (such as the temporary nature of a calling into the medical field).  While I still don't know exactly how God wants me to proceed in every area of my life, He has shown me that I don't have to fret or worry.  He has it all under control.   

What my boss said was not at all a criticism in the manner she spoke it, but instead, oddly enough, an encouragement.  It was encouraging because I realized that God knows what He's doing.  He will never abandon those whom He loves.  He listens to our heartfelt prayers.  When it seems that we are not hearing from Him and are confused about what step to take next, if we look hard enough, God will use things and people around us to show us where He wants us to go.  I may never become a nurse, but I will trust God to make me what He wills in His own good time and His own unique ways.

To be truthful, more than half the time His ways of directing me seem bizarre or don't make sense.  Yet in the big-picture, does it really matter how confused we may become by our circumstances?  God has a bright future and a hope for us.  He will lead us.  Through the conversation I had with my boss and through spending time in His word, I was reminded of the hope found in Him, of Christ's unfailing love, and that I just have to trust that God will get me where He wants, nurse or not.  I believe that God is at last starting to lead me away from being in the medical field.  I don't understand it all, but I am thankful, grateful, and I know that God will continue to reveal His plans to me as I wait on Him.  It comes down to the words of an old hymn: 'Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. '"  ~ Hannah K.


"God sighting in Rome today! There are, sadly, many old women on the streets begging for money. Sometimes they spend hours, bent over the ground, hands raised upwards. On one corner, I saw a lady spent a few minutes with an old woman, sharing love and kindness, and just listening. I saw God today!" - Christina K.


"I work at a restaurant as a server. I know God wants me to do everything with as much gusto as if everything were for Him; so I try to apply this to everyone at work. Well, my manager called me into the office the other day to tell me that a customer I waited on loved my service so much that he called the main office (where the president of the company is) to compliment my service. Shortly after, a second manager told me that I had the potential to be manager over the whole restaurant.

Talk about God in the works! And I didn't think I was doing anything special -- just serving Him." - Christine E.