I cannot believe I finally did it (and before graduation too!)
I can finally call myself a Pastor (although Pastor Cody is just weird and Pastor Bolton is out of the question!)
On Thursday, February 7th 2013 my church board approved my local pastor's license!
I am in the process of looking for a mentor, someone who has walked down the road I am just starting. One who I trust to lead with the leadership God has given them.
To be honest, I wasn't even going to try for a local license until I finished my MA in Pastoral Ministry. I wanted to study what it takes to be a pastor before I became one. Apparently, this was not the road in which God thinks is best for me.
Although it has taken me a long time, I have come to the realization that God knows me better than I know me.
In the summer of 2011, I took the Strength's Finder 2.0 test. My strengths are Restorative, Empathy, Futuristic Developer and Individualization.
My head is always either thinking about others, or thinking about the future. And what I was planning on doing changed because of one conversation I had with a person who felt the Holy Spirit's call to talk to me about the future I had envisioned for myself.
If it wasn't for that one person, I would not be a pastor right now.
At the end of 2012, God told me that 2013 was going to be a year of change. (2010 was my last "year of change.") But it is only mid-February and I cannot believe all the changes that have happened so far and the changes that will happen within the next couple of months!
The Outreach Pastor of my home church is resigning.
There will be a new Senior Pastor at the end of March.
I will be graduating with a BA in Communication Science in May.
I will find a career to help support my vocation of ministering to the Deaf (during the summer)
I will be financially stable.
I can start paying off all my debts. (mostly school loans)
I can start saving for a new car and a new home. (Goal is to buy a new car next year. I don't know if I want to live in the suburbs or move to the city.....been thinkin' about buying a condo.)
I can continue to build my credit.
I will be learning what it takes to become a pastor. (I eventually want to be an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene)
I will turn 25 this year.
Change can be challenging, but going out on a limb with God is very, very exciting.
Many blessings.
Cody Marie
