In November 2010, our acceptance to serve with Mercy Ships was overturned. This was due primarily to Jacks fairly new diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome and how he might cope in the onboard school - the Mercy Ships Academy. It was difficult to digest for a while but definitely the right decision for our family. However, we continued to feel called to serve but were unsure when this might happen. Not our first lesson in God's timing versus ours - illustrated beautifully in Proverbs 19 v 21
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Two years later and I am back on the blog and we are back in the application process for Mercy Ships service. The boys are now 11, 8 and 5 and about to start Years 6, 3, and Kindergarten (Prep). So how has this come about? Well....
At the end of 2012, I had been preparing for 6 month deployment to Timor-Leste with the Australian Defence Force as a Reserve Officer. I was keen to be part of the Force Extraction team as the Mission there wound down. I believed that this would be a good opportunity to update and use my Navy Logistics skills as well as developing some new ones for future employment with Mercy Ships. I was selected for this position in July 2012 and thus had 6 months to prepare and complete several courses. I threw myself into being as up to date as possible - even attending two week long courses for Rifle and pistol competencies - definitely not one of my strengths.
As the deployment date of 2 Jan 2013 drew nearer, I heard rumours that the troop withdrawal was proceeding smoothly and future deployments may be shortened. Nevertheless, I had my information in writing and I felt confident enough to take little notice of the chat. We had continued to email copies of the boys' school reports to Mercy Ships periodically to keep our files up to date. And we were planning to reapply to join the ship in October 2013 at the end of my deployment.
In Mid November, we received an email from Mercy ships entitled "Academy Approval for Jack" with a report attached that included several recommendations for a smooth transition to the school. One of the key recommendations was that all families with school age children join the ship in time for the kids to start the school year altogether in August. Noting my deployment dates, and the compulsory Onboarding course in Texas in June, this was not going to work in 2013. So we emailed back that 2013 was out - I was contracted to the Navy until August. Perhaps 2014?
Noting the whispers about troop withdrawal - Mick and I decided to look at date possibilities if my deployment was shortened. We decided that as long as I was home by ANZAC Day - 25 Apr - we could go in June. It was in God's Hands. If He wanted us to go to Africa, He would make it happen irrespective of what we thought we had planned. Having come to that conclusion, we were at peace.
Upon returning to work, there were further rumours about deployment dates from the person I was to be relieving in Dili. So I dashed off an email asking the question - expecting a "Don't you worry" email back. Not what happened. The response said that all future deployments to Timor -Leste had been cancelled. Sorry - you're not going. All that work. All those courses. All that time away from home preparing. I should have been pretty peeved. Instead - I felt relieved. Relieved that I had found out earlier rather than later. But even more, I was relieved because God was clearly pointing the way ahead for our family. Just like it says in Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
So that is where we are at now on the Australia Day weekend in Sydney. Where will we be next year? Well - that is up to God.
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