There are some things in life that happen in such a coincidental way that it could only have been God’s doing.
My job at Children to Love (CTL) is one of those instances for me. Ten years ago when I was only 15 years old, I went on a trip to visit CTL’s children’s home in India with some of my family and a few others. This was my first concrete memory of CTL and the work they do, however at the time CTL only had three ministry partners (India, Romania and Uganda).
After graduating from college, I embarked on a whirlwind journey– I landed my dream job in photojournalism and soon bought a house, only to get laid off 10 days after escrow closed.
I was in a free fall. Yet, I felt an overwhelming peace that could only be from God. I spoke with John Penrose here at CTL, and even interviewed for a part-time communications role at CTL that same week. After prayer, I felt led in a different direction towards another job offer I had received for a full-time position.
The job I chose revealed itself to not be a good fit and in an industry I grew increasingly wary of. In that season, I came to understand just how important it was for me to have a job that provides a sense of purpose greater than myself. It took that experience to help me understand what I wanted. I felt led to begin my search for something new.
That’s when I found my way back to CTL. Through a string of circumstances, the same position I had previously interviewed for was miraculously still available, although it remained a part-time position.
After much prayer, I felt God asking me to trust that he would provide.
I accepted the job, and it was almost a year to the day that I had previously interviewed for the job, and exactly two years to the day that I had initially been laid off when I started at CTL on the communications team.
I knew when I started at CTL that this was an organization that cared about the people it works with. I knew it was a moral and integrous organization. I knew it had a mission to build up and empower indigenous leaders who are best positioned to speak to the communities and nuances of their perspective culture.
But wow have those qualities come to life for me! Although I am not the one out in the field doing the hands-on work, the stories that come through the computer screen that I get to tell on behalf of those who have been transformed are also transforming me each and every day.
I have loved seeing how CTL supports its partners. Although CTL does hold high standards of spiritual and financial integrity for their partners, the freedom given towards each partner to determine for themselves what is the most fitting way to reach and demonstrate God’s love in each particular context is truly an incredible thing to see unfold.
I have loved seeing how well each of our partners runs their ministry and loves those in their communities. There are some amazingly talented, kind, caring, hard-working, intelligent and God-fearing people running each of our ministry partnerships and it has been so beautiful to get a closer picture of all that goes into the day to day of their ministries.
I have loved to see how community members, churches and fellow nonprofits rally around CTL and its teams and ministries. It is so beautiful to see the larger “Church” binding together to care for, encourage and support one another globally.
Only a few months into my new role, I am looking forward to the many more things I have yet to learn. I am looking forward to being able to join teams in the future to see for my own eyes the ministries that I have gotten so acquainted with on paper. But most importantly, I am looking forward to continuing to see how God reveals truths about himself to me through the stories I get to share day after day.
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