Week 4 DB
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Liberty University *
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525
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Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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docx
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2
Uploaded by CoachScienceHedgehog2593
This week we focused on what to me is an easily misunderstood or misconstrued term, a
simple word, calling.
Depending on how this word is used can change its meaning from a cry, to
using a phone, to a person’s vocation.
Mirriam–Webster (n.d.) defines calling as “a strong inner
impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of
divine influence”.
Know Your Calling
Over the years I have struggled with accepting my calling as God has given it to me.
Instead of listening to Him and His calling for my life I inserted my own desires to be the best at
my chosen vocation of emergency management and all the aspects that it entailed.
I thought I
was doing good until the storm hit and it all crashed down around me.
It was during this point of
my journey through the resilience life cycle that I realized God had called me to minister to
others.
This realization took me back to the beginning and the building resilience phase as I
went back to school for ministry and filled my toolbox with the tools necessary to respond to this
calling.
I now find myself better equipped to help people when I serve as a chaplain with
Samaritan’s Purse because of that long journey to accepting my calling.
During the last storm I
encountered I was able to implement the steps Dees (2011) outlines in his resilience life cycle of
asking for help, starting my IV, and drawing from my well of courage to not just survive the
storm but to thrive through it.
As a chaplain it can be emotionally draining hearing the stories of
trauma and loss from the people you are serving, so self-care is paramount and that is what I see
in this phase of the resilience life cycle.
Being aware of this allowed me to reach out to a fellow
chaplain when I was struggling and to take time each day to spend with God and meditate on His
Word.
These actions kept my well full and allowed me to continue serving during those difficult
moments.
Looking back on my journey I can see how God uses all those past experiences to not
only strengthen me now, but to help me minister to others more effectively.
Having suffered and
struggled with PTSD allows me to relate to those who are in the trenches with it now in ways
other chaplains can’t.
Understanding disasters from my years working them allows me to
empathize with those who just survived one.
Because of my journey I can now firmly say that I
have found my calling and it is as a chaplain to those suffering, especially in the wake of a
disaster.
References
Dees, R. F. (2011). Resilient Warriors. Creative Team Publishing.
Mirriam–Webster dictionary (n.d.). Calling. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling
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