Money. It’s a dreaded topic. So many of us cringe when we think about it and want to run away when others bring it up to us. And we sure don’t ever want to share our struggles with it.
Now stop right there. Don’t you go anywhere. Don’t you click that X at the top right corner of the screen. (typed sarcastically, please read in the same tone)
This is not a plea for donations. This is an update on where I’m at and what the Lord has been teaching me over the past few weeks.
I’ve been stressed, particularly about money. Before we jump into the “why” let me give you a quick look at my timeline over the past 5 years or so.
I graduated in 2012, after working 2-3 jobs the entire time I was in school. I was hired on at the Assisted Living Residence for which I did my internship. I worked with them for 2 years, and started building up a savings. Next came an ophthalmology practice, for whom I worked just over 2 years. This was it, I thought this would be a place I could settle into for a while.
Then I quit my job to see what the Lord had for me in the World Race. This was the first time, since I was legally able to work, that I didn’t have an income. This was a total of 13 months without a job. Without an income. Reliant on donations. Reliant on donors.
Upon returning home, I gave myself a month to get caught up with family & friends, adjust to being home, and process through what I had just experienced over the past year, then promptly jumped back into a job at the ophthalmology office.
A quick six months after starting back up at that job, I was stepping away from that job, and back into international missions.
Six months. That’s it. Six months to recoup from 13 months of no income. Six months to prepare for 13 months abroad.
Here I am, three months into that 13 month commitment and I’ve been stressing. Things haven’t gone as planned. We stayed in (higher cost of living) Cambodia longer than expected, then it took us much longer than we anticipated it would to get settled into a home here in Thailand. All of this was happening while several hundred dollars worth of unexpected expenses were accruing back home that I absolutely had not budgeted for. And then, BAM, costs for professional services (personal, unrelated to our Base Planting efforts) hit me like a ton of bricks.
So I went into problem solving mode. What’s the problem? I’m watching my savings get smaller by the day. What’s the solution? Find an income.
I began researching. What can I do from Thailand that wouldn’t take much time, but could make around $100-$200 per month? Well, first of all, remote job where you get paid for a small time commitment? Dream job, right? But it had become my necessity.
I emailed previous employers from the States where remote jobs are do-able, even if they’re not necessarily currently being done. I reached out to other connections where I know remote jobs currently exist, but haven’t actually worked for the company. I didn’t receive negative responses from these inquiries. I received NO responses from any of these inquiries.
I researched teaching English online. I’ve read about VIPkid, Bibo, AL07, Verbling, ITalki, Blazaar, and 51 Talk. I started figuring out what I would do with my own living quarters to turn a section into a backdrop for a virtual classroom, and pricing out materials such as headphones with a mic, a desk, a few props, etc.
Then I felt God asking me to trust Him. God asked me to be reliant on Him. He asked me to be still and know that He had a plan all along, knowing that all of this was about to transpire.
I’ve prided myself on being independent and self-sufficient. I’ve dreaded returning to a state of being reliant on donations and reliant on others to support me in missions.
But I’m experiencing a mind shift. No single job on my resume has been of my own doing. It was all part of the plan. And I’m not reliant on others to support me. I’m reliant on God to provide. Sometimes He uses others, but that part is not my responsibility.
God had a plan when he called me back to international missions after working for a mere 6 months. He provides. He’s teaching me to be reliant on Him to do just that.
