Last night the AYM staff was driving around celebrating a birthday and laughing so so hard. It is one of the beautiful blessings of the current AYM team. We really like hanging out with each other and when we are together we are generally having a lot of fun.
Partly because we all like each other so much as a team, I think we would all say that we really feel blessed in a lot of ways. We feel blessed to have each other, to have a great job, to get to live in such an awesome state as Arizona.
But in the midst of the blessings, we have also been having conversations about the hardships, the questions, the concerns that come along with working in a place such as the reservation.
For me (and for some of my teammates) working here has been a constant progression in learning to reconcile and understand God and our ministerial efforts in terms of the suffering and the lack of what we might like to call "success." Our job is actually relatively ambiguous. Our efforts might help, they might not. Our day in and day out life may seem like it isn't really doing much, but at the same time we know that if the Kennel was not a part of this community, there would be a great loss. We do know that we make a difference, we might just not see it on the surface, the outsides, the day to day.
And the quaint answers about God sometimes don't fix it all, because the problems, the work, the complications in decision-making, are all really intense.
But in the midst of the conversations, in the midst of my own doubts, it is so cool because God is continually revealing Himself to us. He reveals Himself in conversations with our students and conversations with each other. When I am struggling to believe He provides others to push me forward and help me recognize the Truth in a world full of lies.
And as we walk this path, trying to figure out how to best serve God in this place, we continue to learn and seek out His will by dialoging with each other, with mentors, with friends. We realize that we don't have it all together, but that we are putting forth our best effort. We are seeking to be faithful, to be the best we can be, for that is what we are called to do.
So even in the midst of the questions, we feel blessed. Because God has proven Himself to be good, to be faithful, and to be full of love.
-Meredith
Partly because we all like each other so much as a team, I think we would all say that we really feel blessed in a lot of ways. We feel blessed to have each other, to have a great job, to get to live in such an awesome state as Arizona.
But in the midst of the blessings, we have also been having conversations about the hardships, the questions, the concerns that come along with working in a place such as the reservation.
For me (and for some of my teammates) working here has been a constant progression in learning to reconcile and understand God and our ministerial efforts in terms of the suffering and the lack of what we might like to call "success." Our job is actually relatively ambiguous. Our efforts might help, they might not. Our day in and day out life may seem like it isn't really doing much, but at the same time we know that if the Kennel was not a part of this community, there would be a great loss. We do know that we make a difference, we might just not see it on the surface, the outsides, the day to day.
And the quaint answers about God sometimes don't fix it all, because the problems, the work, the complications in decision-making, are all really intense.
But in the midst of the conversations, in the midst of my own doubts, it is so cool because God is continually revealing Himself to us. He reveals Himself in conversations with our students and conversations with each other. When I am struggling to believe He provides others to push me forward and help me recognize the Truth in a world full of lies.
And as we walk this path, trying to figure out how to best serve God in this place, we continue to learn and seek out His will by dialoging with each other, with mentors, with friends. We realize that we don't have it all together, but that we are putting forth our best effort. We are seeking to be faithful, to be the best we can be, for that is what we are called to do.
So even in the midst of the questions, we feel blessed. Because God has proven Himself to be good, to be faithful, and to be full of love.
-Meredith
