Ten years down the road...

What do I imagine my life being like ten years from now? That is not an easy question to answer. I feel as if anything could happen. But, here is what I see at this moment:

A few moments ago I started the process of applying to grad school. My husband and I would both like to begin grad school at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in the fall of 2008. I would like to pursue a Masters of Arts in Counseling, and my husband would like a Masters of Divinity with which he would become a pastor. I am very excited at the prospect of attending this school, although we are not 100% sure that this is where we will end up. So, assuming that we do go to Covenant next fall, we will likely be there for about 4 years. My degree will only take 2 years if all goes as planned. This means that I could begin doing what I really want to do in about two and half years; and that is exciting!

This brings us to what I really want to do. There are actually two things to which I feel drawn. The first is to be a counselor at a church, specifically for women. At most churches, the pastor is trained in counseling; but the vast majority of pastors are men. Also, there is not a big supply of female counselors working in the church environment. This means that there may be times when women feel they have no one within their church (who is a trained counselor) with whom they can seek advice about certain issues. It is this void that I would love to be a part of filling. The other area that I feel drawn to would be working for some kind of nonprofit organization, particulary a crisis pregnancy center. I have always felt passionately about abortion and long for women to know that aborting their baby is not their only option, and that they are not alone. I feel that the education I would receive at Covenant Seminary would help prepare me for both of these work environments.

So to summarize, ten years from now I hope to have my masters degree and be working in a church or a crisis pregnancy center. However, that is not the only thing I hope to be doing. If my husband is the pastor of a church, I hope to be serving along side him at that church. Also, I would love to have started a family at this point. If we do have children, then I would like to only be working part-time so I could stay home with them when they are not in school.

Ten years from now I hope that I am more mature, more in love with my Savior, still very in love with my husband, and learning more and more what it is to serve others. I hope that I am still close to my family. And I hope that I have a cat :O)