I am where I need to be (part 1)

Call it God’s hand, or coincidence if you do not believe, but the things that finally lined up in my life over the last few weeks is amazingly powerful. Many of these events started out unrelated but their association became apparent later.

Last December I was invited to a company’s 50th anniversary party that was being held in Los Angeles. As a courtesy, they provided transportation from Orange County to the event. The limousine was primarily for clients and one former employee brought his spouse. I happened to be sitting near her during the ride and eventually the conversation came around to her profession. She has provided career consulting for the last decade or two after being involved in teaching.

Around the same time, I contacted one of the associate pastors at my family church (where I have been only an infrequent attendee over the last few years). I had met the pastor earlier in the year during an evening group (the first I had ever attended) shortly after he arrived at the church. We met to discuss my depression and he informed me that there were few groups starting after the first of the year, two of which he was leading and might be of interest to me. One is a small men’s group that would start off by reading John Eldredge’s book Wild at Heart. The second was a new workshop for “how to discover and live out of your unique” talents or spiritual gifts.

Shortly after the first of the year, when my psychiatrist while completing some paperwork for me, said that he rarely is able to make this recommendation “I should strongly consider Vocational Rehabilitation or career counseling.” However, he had no one he could refer me to, so I should just check the phone book and/or internet. Unbeknownst to him, less than a month previously I had met someone just with those qualifications.