What does my personal history reveal to me of the particular ways in which I have been called by God?
When I think of my personal history I begin with my place in my family. I was born the youngest of seven children to a 46 year-old mother and a 51 year-old father, relatively old in 1968. I was not at all a planned or expected child, and there are nine years between the 6th child and me.
As I get older and reflect on my own fatherhood, I appreciate more and more the great faith that my parents possessed as they moved through life in all their human roles and relationships. My family has always been a family of great faith, whether I always realized it or not.
I believe God has called me to this world, to this existence, in slightly unlikely circumstances. I have used my role in the family to relate well to older people. I have a level of empathy for people with disabilities and the disenfranchised. Part of my sensitivities and sensibilities come from who I am and part comes from what I've learned, I suppose, but what I now know is that everything has been ordained by God. God has enabled me to exist and I am blessed to be here.
After living with mental illness, I began to learn to embrace challenges as gifts instead of liabilities or irreparable hurts. After getting fired from a teaching job, I found something that suited me better. I have learned to manage my anxiety and I hope to eliminate it from my life all together.
These experiences have bolstered my sense of faith and the awareness that everything truly happens for a reason, however joyous or painful, which is meant to teach me, so that I in turn may help others and glorify God. I know that if I consciously live my life to guide others as I have been guided then I am fulfilling my destiny as a steward of God.
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