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| Duck butts! |
Hello friends! It's
well past time for an update!
Today I'm going to tell a story about a duck named Thelma and how God spoke to me through her. (Hey, He can speak through a donkey, why not a duck?!....or a
dog?)
Tony and I live in a beautiful little community in Pompano Beach, FL. Although it is full of condos, this is still considered a nature preserve and so there are all kinds of ducks, cranes, birds, turtles, lizards, and apparently somewhere out there lurks an alligator.
One day as I was getting out of my car, I saw something move in the bushes that line the curb beside my parking space. I peered through the branches to see it was a beautiful duck, and she was sitting on a nest. I'm sure it's no surprise to you at all that I talked to her and named her.
She looks like a Thelma. Trust me.
I ran inside the apartment and excitedly exclaimed, "Tony!! Guess what!?"
"Um, you won the lottery? You met Ryan Gosling? Whitney is off the air?, " he guessed as a smile spread across his face.
"No!! BETTER!!! There's a duck in the bush beside my car!"
Okay, so maybe I'm a bit prone to overexcitement.
Before I tell you more about Thelma, let me switch gears and tell you what was going on in my heart around this time. After a few months at my job, I realized this was not what I wanted to do forever. I couldn't quite understand at the time why I was feeling this way.
Clearly God had lined this job up for me. If that was true, then why was I feeling like it didn't quite fit?
God had begun stirring something in my heart before I
left my job in DC, and I haven't been able shake it. He hasn't been specific about what this thing will look like. He hasn't told me where I will be and what I will be doing. I've just known that I will know when I know...ya know!?
So when I met Thelma, I was at a place of knowing that this job wasn't for me, but not knowing what to do about it. I had just gone through a few pretty huge transitions. I had moved away from my family and friends. I had just gotten married. Tony had just started a new job that was part time. We are in need of a new car (sadly, my Jeep is in the death throws). It didn't seem like good time to tell my husband I wasn't happy at my job.
So for awhile I didn't say anything. I thought that it was just me struggling with the transition.
Every morning on my way to my car and every evening on my way in from work I would stop and look in on Thelma and say hello. I felt a kinship with this little duck. I felt like I understood what it was like to sacrifice yourself for what was to come later. I understood how it feels to protect a delicate, precious future promise. I have laid down my dreams, covered them, and waited for the day that my waiting and wanting would end.
As the other mama ducks waddled around the property with their baby ducks in toe, I would see Thelma patiently sitting on her nest. Time kept passing. The other baby ducks were getting older, but no babies for Thelma. Not yet.
I finally told Tony how I was feeling about my job. He was totally understanding and supportive and told me that it was time to move on. The one question he asked me was, "what do you want to do?". I felt weird at the time telling him that I didn't know, but that I would know it when I saw it.
The very next day, after we had decided it was time to look for something new, Tony talked to some of his friends to see if they knew of anything. One of Tony's friends told him about a job opening where he works and would be happy to talk to me about it if I was interested. As Tony told me a vague description of the job, I knew already in my heart that this was it.
The very next day after our decision that I needed to look for a new opportunity, I knew I had found my new job.
I don't think Tony would mind if I tell you that he thought I was jumping the gun a bit. I didn't even really know much about the job or even the organization. He thought I might just be anxious to leave and was putting all my eggs in the first basket I found.
I talked with Tony's friend, sent him my resume, and waited.
A few days later I get an email inviting me for an interview. I was SO excited! I couldn't believe how quickly things were moving and working out!
The only issue was that I couldn't leave my job yet. My office was short staffed and there was no way I could leave until the office manager came back, and she wouldn't be back for at least another month and a half.
I replied that I was interested in setting up the interview (it couldn't hurt to interview, right!?), but only got a reply a week later that interviews were on hold and they would contact me later to set up an interview time. At first I was disappointed. Tony advised me to start looking for other jobs in the area, but I told him that I knew I wasn't supposed to. I knew that even if this job didn't work out, God was going to open the door Himself and all I had to do was wait. I think that made Tony a little nervous, but I assured him that this is how God and I roll. I stopped striving a while ago and I wasn't going to pick it back up no matter how unsure the future looked.
What do ducks think about while they sit on their eggs all day and wait?
That is one of the many questions I had for Thelma, but she didn't answer me. Time kept ticking on. More baby ducklings hatched by other ducky mamas, but Thelma was still waiting. If ducks could make expressions I would say she was getting a little impatient. The rainy season had begun a few weeks back and it pained me to think of Thelma sitting in the rain while lightening streaked the sky above her. As if the waiting wasn't bad enough. Now she's stuck in the rain.
Work was becoming more and more stressful for me. I felt like I was stuck in the rain too. I didn't know what was going to happen next, but I knew it was time to go. Tony and I had decided that I was going to leave whether I got this job or not. This was a huge leap of faith, but for some reason we weren't worried about it.
A few days before my office manager returned to work, I got an email to set up my interview. Isn't God's timing perfect!? I scheduled the interview and waited on God to tell me what to do next.
This may sound a bit crazy, but I knew that it would be time to quit my job as soon as Thelma's eggs hatched.
A week after my office manager got back to the office after being gone for a few months, Thelma's eggs hatched.
I gave my notice the next day.
I don't know which one I was more excited about...giving my notice or seeing Thelma's 21 ducklings. That's right...twenty one!!! I counted them myself. The average hatching is around 9 to 14 duckings.
One evening when I came home from work, I saw Thelma and her clan waddling through the front yard of our building. There was a lady standing there watching them and I struck up a conversation with her. She told me that she had lived in the community for about 10 years and had loved watching the ducks and their hatchlings. She told me she couldn't believe that this duck had so many ducklings; she had never seen one have that many. I know it sounds so strange, but I felt so proud of Thelma and her sacrifice. She may have been the one to wait the longest for her promise, but she got more babies duckies for her troubles. I know she's a duck and she was just doing what ducks do, but it was miraculous to me none-the-less.
Everyone at my job was so super supportive and understanding. I left there knowing that God had done something very important in me and through me with this position.
I also left not knowing whether or not I was going to have a job.
After a couple of awesome interviews, I was offered the job!!
You're now looking at (or more accurately: reading the words of) the Relationship Manager/Assistant to the President of
OneHope (check out their website to find out what they are all about)!!
Another leap of faith and another opportunity to see that God is faithful.
Thelma and her ducklings have moved on from my building, but sometimes I get the opportunity to see them. Some mornings as I look out my window that over looks the water, I see her and her little ones walking along the waters edge. I miss seeing her in the bushes by my car, but you can't sit and wait forever. She can't stay at the nest while her babies run about. When the promise comes, it's time to leave the nest and experience the gift of all that waiting.
I'm ready to leave the nest as well. I've learned so much in the waiting, but it's time to get excited about stepping into my next adventure!
Don't give up on your dreams or desires. Sometimes there will be a detour. Sometimes you will have to lay them down and wait. But know that God is faithful to fulfill His promises. He is a good Daddy. When I look back at my older blog posts where I write about leaving DC and what has transpired since then I am totally in awe. If God Himself would have told me that I would meet my future husband, move to Florida, and meet so many amazing new people I don't think I would have believed Him. This transition hasn't been easy, but I wouldn't take a moment of it back. If you want to really live you have to be willing to step out into the unknown and risk failing, falling, and being wrong. Looking back over my life, it's within my scariest, most unsure moments that I have grown the most. I draw closest to Jesus in that place. And the closer to Him the better.
It's good to be writing again.
I missed you all.
Loves,
Katie Alicea
