breakthrough

i guess when it rains it pours... no posts for a month, then two in two days :)

i am in the midst of some monumental thankfulness these days. Here are two reasons....

I have begun interning as a marriage and family therapist, and I cannot believe how much i love this work.  I have a internship that is so perfect for me I can hardly believe it.  Many of my fellow students intern in exchange for supervision, but I have a bona fide job ...  AND my clinical supervisor is at an agency in the mall a short walk from where I work.  It's beautiful.  But those details are not the best part.
The best part is the work I get to do, and the clients I get to work with. I have taken to telling people I would walk over hot coals every morning to get to this job.  I work in an inner city agency that offers free counseling.  People hear about us from all sorts of different sources, lots of times from outside the neighborhood.  Every single day I hear heartbreaking stories of trauma and pain.  And every single day, I hear heart-filling stories of strength, resilience, of facing realities with courage and determination.  I am familiar with the labels that get put on neighborhoods like the one I work in.  I wish those who perpetuate the stereotypes could sit in my office some days.  I wish they could hear what some of the families are overcoming, how much success they have in spite of tremendous obstacles.  I wish people could have a little insight into how much strength it takes to say NO to denial, numbing, and letting pain be in charge of your life.  I wish the general public was aware of how much energy it takes to turn your life around and maintain that turnaround... when the reasons it was messed up in the first place weren't your choice at all.  I appreciate our clients so much.

The other big thing I am thankful for is that our house sold!  We first listed it 27 months ago. Yes, that is over two years.  Two years of praying, wondering, feeling 'on hold', cursing, going into debt, and being on a roller coaster.  Two years of trusting and hoping amid all that agonizing.  We were always cared for and provided for... but we also were always teetering on the edge.  The edge of despair, the edge of sanity, the edge of a cliff!  We had gone on a spring walk in Point Douglas last weekend when we returned to a phone call on the Flats landline (we hardly ever use that phone because we usually rely on cell phones) that told us our agent was going to be faxing us an offer in the next couple of hours.  The conditions were lifted on Wednesday, and the new owners take possession next week!  So we waited, waited, waited, and waited some more for two years, then had to spring into action to get everything finalized in one week!  We are relieved and thankful.

Last fall, someone from church told me that she believed that Lord was speaking a message of breakthrough to our family, even though she didn't know that much about our circumstances.  Sitting quietly this week, taking in all the news we've gotten lately, it sure seems like breakthrough.