Five years ago to this day, I applied for my first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) while my world was falling apart.
My wife had left me. We were still doing couples counseling–as I remember it. But that was an exercise in futility.
Unknown to me at the time, my (now ex) wife was already involved with the man she later would confess indirectly as her adultery partner.
As if that was not enough, my job as a coffee barista that kept me afloat financially was about cut back on hours with the college students away for the summer.
Life was a mess.
It all looked especially hopeless.
Then God a little miracle happened. God steered me into trying an unpaid summer internship. I took my first unit of specialized training as a chaplain (CPE) at a Trauma One Center in Connecticut.
And things started looking up…
One unit of CPE turned into a Residency turned in Board Certification turned into a job in hospice turned into becoming the director for spiritual care at a large non-profit.
God is good.
Today, I could never imagine the incredible blessings God has poured into my life sitting at a coffee shop writing today:
I have an amazing new family with Mrs. DM and Munchkin [Plus, I am no longer bound to my cheater and her abusive–IMO–family!)
And I am so thankful for my incredible job today.
So, I write this day as an encouragement to those of you in your own version of where I was five years ago this day.
It may look completely hopeless.
But, please, do not despair!
If God could turn my life around in five short years, I am sure God can do the same for you. Never give up hope!
Thank you for this today, dear DM. How I needed to hear it, as it seems that my world falls apart a little bit more every day….and I am running out of emotional energy to deal with it…
I am so happy for you that you are in such a different place than 5 years ago.