Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Surveying the land. . .

Before we made our trip to Nashville to survey the land to see if we could even see ourselves there, I fasted breakfast and lunch.  My prayer was that God would open doors wherever we were supposed to be--Waco, Fort Worth, Northwest Arkansas, or Nashville.  I was praying specifically for clear guidance and direction over our weekend there as we drove around Brentwood and Franklin and met with various people.  Scott fell in love with the rolling hills, trees and winding creeks and truly was impressed by the clinics we saw and the people we met.  The medical community is something special there, and he longed to be a part of a community like that.  Sometime in October we heard that the clinic we had informally met with had chosen to hire a resident, so we still weren't sure where we were to be.  I still was pondering Rick Warren's talk, and kept thinking about "what God has you lay down (my love and desire for Waco) He only has something better for you to pick up."  Sometimes I wondered if Waco was like my "Egypt."  When God had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and opened the Red Sea for them to escape and wander in the wilderness, He provided food and water and clothes for them that never ran out.  But, they started complaining about what they missed in Egypt--how soon they forgot how miserable they were as slaves.  Of course, we are not miserable in Waco, but the job is taking its toll on our family, and I kept thinking of things I did not want to leave behind.  I didn't want to be holding onto the dreams for my life in Waco that I thought were permanent (Baylor events/sports, our house, where we live, our church) only to miss something better.  On October 31, I wrote "Lord, you know where you want us to live, where you want us to go to church, where you want the girls to go to school.  Lord, help us as we get from now until we are going wherever we are going.  There is a group on the north side of Nashville that is interested in him--it seems like a good opportunity.  We just pray that you will make it a smooth transition if that is where you want him."
A private practice on the north side of Nashville saw Scott's CV and called him.  He talked with them a couple of times and was pretty impressed with what they were doing.  It was a little foreign to us, because we had only looked at the south side of Nashville (Brentwood/Franklin). I started googling the area to see what it might be like.  I looked up houses and saw one that was decorated almost exactly like our house and seemed affordable compared to houses on the south side.  I told Scott if he decided he wanted to interview with them I would be willing to consider it.  With the demands of his call schedule, he told them it would be sometime in January when we could make it out there.  Or if they flew him out there, he could come the next weekend (out on Sat. morning, and fly back Sun night, because he had patients scheduled Fri and Mon).  All this time we had to keep this all secret, because we didn't want to cause panic with his patients that we might be leaving (especially when we weren't certain what was in store).  Since he was under a contract with the hospital, we felt it would be unwise to let anyone know our thoughts until he actually had a signed contract--whether we were staying in Waco or not.
This clinic agreed to fly us out the next week.  The Wednesday before we left, Scott got called into another meeting that was not positive.  I was so thankful for God's mercy for providing the interview that following weekend.  It gave us hope that he did not have to stay in this situation in which it was becoming clear his call demands were not going to change.  I believed Scott hearing the song about mercy might just be foretelling God's character in this situation.  Scott was able to sit through the 2 hour meeting graciously, because he know of an opportunity ahead. Thank you, Lord!  Stick with me on some of this background--God gives us an amazing sign during the interview that I can't wait to share!

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