Keeping Your Joy in the Meantime

Last night I had a straight up hissy fit.  I had not been so worked in a very long time.  I was venting, making declarations and there were a few curse words involved.  You see, I had just learned that I may not be able to get my transcripts from massage school until after the director goes on and returns from a 28 day trip.  I was told this by people who were laughing at the same time, but it was the second time that I had heard it.   So I don’t know if it is true or not.   Many people take me as mild mannered.  The truth is that I have had some knocks in this world and can be quite combative if the situation calls for it.  However, my faith, keeps that in check.  If I call myself a Christian, how can I get up in blow up in someone’s face and curse them out.  Well, I can’t.  If I had kept pushing about the transcript last night, the fighter in me was going to come out.  So I just left the building with my massage school bestie, Paul, and made him listen to my tirade in the parking lot in the cold.  But he likes cold so he was fine.  

It’s just a transcript, you may say.  Well, I quit a good paying job, and spent thousands of dollars on massage school, setting up my LLC, creating my website, taking extra training and passing the Massage Board License exam early so that I could get my license and start practicing straight out of school.  In order to do that, I must turn in my massage school transcript to the state with my license application.   My business, Synergy BodyWoRx LLC, is set to launch in January.  It says so on the business website, Facebook, twitter and YouTube channel.  That is what I told all the people I have massaged that wanted to see me again.  I am touring an office building tomorrow to possibly rent for the January opening.  If my transcript is delayed until the middle of January, my application to the state and subsequent license issuance, won’t take place until the beginning of February.  I NEED my transcript!  Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that I needed to just wait the 10 days it takes for a transcript to be processed and then see if I get it or not.  If not, I would call the other owner of the school to see if someone else could sign.  

This morning I kept my promise to myself to go to 8am service instead of my regular noon attendance.  (Successful business people are early risers, or so that say).  Thank God for my church, St. John’s Downtown.  Soon I was lost in the service.  The choir sang “Stand” by Donnie McClurkin and I realized that this entire episode was my control issues surfacing again.  My plan, my plan, my plan….   If I am a Christian, this life is not about my plan but God’s plan.  Yes, I can make preparations, but this life is messy and unpredictable.  The biggest lesson I am learning in my mid-life career change is that I need to learn to be able to roll with the punches AND keep my faith.  If the people at school were kidding with me, or not, it didn’t matter. I will get my license when the time comes and I will simply stand until that time.

That would have been enough and then comes Reverend CJ with the message on JOY.  The title was the title of this blog post "Keeping Your Joy in The Meantime".  The reference was Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  She preached on how true joy is based on our knowledge of God and knowing Him for who He is, not just what He does for you.  Hebrews 12:2 says, " looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”.  Jesus had to get through beatings, the long walk to Calgary and His crucifixion on the cross on Friday before He could experience the joy of rising on Sunday and then returning to the Father.  Reverend CJ pointed out that many of us would have gotten stuck in the pain of Friday and given up.  That we have to look at all of our hurts and pain of the past and present and always remember that the joy of Sunday is coming.  Wow, another message meant for me!   I was good to go.

As I gathered my coat and scarf to leave the church house, a young man approached me.  “Are you Trina Walker from Austin?”.  I said, yes, and apologized for not knowing him.  He gave me his name and reminded me that we attended the same church in Austin.  Right then I knew the Father had heard my frustration, loves me and has it all under control.  As soon as he said his name, I remembered him.  He is a chiropractor.  As my massage buddies know, a massage therapist can work in a chiropractor’s office without a license. After I told him about my career change, looking for an office to rent and the possible delay in the issuance of my license, he told me that he had contacts with rooms to rent…..  

God is so good.  :-)