NURSING SCHOOL, PART 2

In my last post, I shared how God opened doors and cleared hurdles on my journey toward nursing school. One reason I am writing about this journey here at the blog is to document - for myself, so I won't forget - all the incredible things I have seen God do over the past couple of months. I ended that last post with one hurdle standing. But before I tell you how God cleared that hurdle, I want to share...

Over and over through this months-long process, I have thought: "This is crazy. It doesn't make any sense. I am too old to go back to school. I'll be retirement age before I even graduate!" And over and over, I have thought: "God, do I understand you right? Do I even need to be pursuing this? Am I completely nuts?!"

And over and over again, this:

One day in town, I met a man - a complete stranger - who began chatting to me about his family: "My wife went back to school recently, says it's the best decision she ever made. She absolutely loves her job now. When I asked her if she had any thoughts of retiring any time soon, she said, 'No way!'"

"That's awesome," I replied. The fellow looked about my age, so I assumed his wife was about my age, too. "If you don't mind my asking, how old was your wife when she went back to school?"

"She was 55 when she went back to school. Took her several years to finish, but she stuck in there and got it done."

"Wow, that's incredible. What did she study?"

"Nursing. Loves it. She absolutely loves it."

This man had never met me, knew nothing about me. He had no idea I was thinking about going back to school, no idea I was thinking about studying nursing, too. No idea that that particular morning, I was on the verge of talking myself out of the whole crazy idea. It was like God put us in the same place, at the same time, for some kind of divine appointment.

ME: "Are you sure this is what you want me to do, God? I'm too old for this. This is crazy! Are you sure?"
GOD: "Yes. I'm sure."

Then there was the time I sat in Julie's chair at the salon. A middle-aged man came in and sat down across from me to wait his turn for a haircut. He was wearing scrubs.

"Do you work at Baptist?" I asked in an effort at conversation.

"Yes, I'm a nurse." He went on to explain how, after decades at a factory job, he decided to go back to school to study nursing. "Best decision I ever made. I love my work," he offered. "In fact, I'm planning on going back to school to take even more classes in the spring. I love this field, and I want to learn more."

This man had never met me, knew nothing about me. He had no idea I was thinking about going back to school, no idea I was thinking about studying nursing, too. No idea that that particular afternoon, I was on the verge of talking myself out of the whole crazy idea. It was like God put us in the same place, at the same time, for some kind of divine appointment.

ME: "Are you sure this is what you want me to do, God? I'm too old for this. This is crazy! Are you sure?"
GOD: "Yes. I'm sure."

Friends, this exact scenario has played out half-a-dozen times over the past six weeks. Every time my confidence has flagged, God has created a "divine appointment" to tell me again, "Yes. I'm sure."

God is so very kind and patient with this timid daughter of his.

I'm not sure where this will lead, but I am certain God wants me to take the next step forward. Timid or not, I will take it.

Now, about that last hurdle...