沙滩还是沙漠

我和我的丈夫罗伦都曾做着我们梦想的工作。我丈夫之前的心理咨询师做得非常成功，而我在复临健康发展部工作。我们都非常喜欢佛罗里达的海滩生活。

但是我们的生命似乎还缺少了什么，于是我们便开始祈求上帝能带领我们一起去做全职福音事工。但实际上，除了去孩子和孙子所住的田纳西州之外，我们内心并不愿意被差派到其他州。

我一时兴起参加了由教会北美分会妇女协会举办的一个会议。那是一个充满大能的祷告与献身的时刻。我碰巧路过会议展览厅，那里设了一个由霍尔布鲁克复临教会印第安学校设立的展位，我注意到一些学生自制的漂亮陶器。于是我就买了三个马毛陶器。

在我买东西的时候，站在展位上的一位女士问起我的工作。当我告诉她我是在发展部工作时，她兴奋地指着展位中的另一位女士说：“她是我们发展部的主任，她即将要退休了。”她告诉我，霍尔布鲁克位于亚利桑那州。我心想：“我们不可能搬到那去的。”我和我的丈夫都喜欢有水的地方，所以亚利桑那州的沙漠之地并不是我们喜欢住的地方。

六个月过去了，我和罗伦继续祈祷。有一位朋友对罗伦提醒说，田纳西州的南方复临大学正在招募一位社工系教授，于是我们就想要搬到那里去。

罗伦在最后一秒决定参加在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥市举行的2015年全球总会大会。在展览厅，他远远的看到了马毛陶器，然后，他就发现自己站在霍尔布鲁克复临教会印第安学校的展位那里。展位里的一位女士注意到他的徽章上写着“LCSW”。“这是某项‘临床执照’的意思吗？”她问。罗伦点头说：“临床社工执照。”那位女士激动得的说：“我们那需要这样的人才。”罗伦紧张地微笑着，然后就想溜掉，但那位女士询问了他关于我的工作。他回答说我在佛罗里达医院的发展部工作。

“我们也需要这样的人才！”那位女士边说边对她丈夫挥手，她的丈夫恰好是霍尔布鲁克复临学校的校长。

后来罗伦告诉了我刚刚发生的事情。“哦，哦，”我回答。

几周后，我们决定在假期最后的几天去拜访霍尔布鲁克。在到达之前，罗伦接到了南方复临大学的电话说他没有被录取。我感到一阵恐慌袭来，或许上帝正在考验我是否愿意去衪要带领我去的地方。

我和罗伦花了九个多小时和霍尔布鲁克的员工们谈学校对美国原住民儿童和青少年的使命。我们了解到，工作人员希望能为那些有“创伤后压力障碍”和其他心理健康问题的学生提供全天候基督教的辅导服务。当晚我就睡不着了。

然而，次日清晨，在我睁开眼睛之前，一个想法在我的脑海里闪现。能在霍尔布鲁克工作该有多好啊！我翻身下床，看到书架上有一本熟悉的书。我把手伸进背包掏出了一本一模一样的书，这是罗伦在全球总会大会拿的，也是我最后带上的书。它是唐.麦克拉弗蒂所写的，名为“跟随：随时随地，不惜一切代价。”那一刻，我知道上帝在呼唤我来到霍尔布鲁克印第安学校。我祷告主，求衪务必把同样的想法放在罗伦的心中。我在祈祷中等待着。

几天之后，当我们回到佛罗里达州的家时，罗伦就说他确信上帝要我们搬到霍尔布鲁克去。那天晚上，我们提交了简历并开始整理行装。两个星期后，我们被录用了。我们很高兴能跟随上帝来到霍尔布鲁克。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2021年第三季

Beach or Desert

My husband, Loren, and I had our dream jobs. He had a successful counseling practice, and I worked in development at AdventHealth. We loved living the beach life in Florida.

But something seemed to be missing. We began praying for God to lead us into working in full-time ministry together. In truth, however, we weren’t open to being led anywhere except to Tennessee, where our children and grandchildren lived.

On a whim, I attended a conference organized by the North American Division’s Women’s Ministries. It was a time of powerful prayer and surrendering of self to God. I happened to walk by the Holbrook Seventh-day Adventist Indian School booth in the conference’s exhibition hall, and I noticed some beautiful student-made pottery. I bought three pieces of horse-hair pottery.

As I made the purchase, a woman at the booth asked about my work. When I told her that I worked in development, she excitedly pointed at the other woman in the booth. “She is our development director, and she is retiring,” she said.

She told me that Holbrook was located in Arizona. “There is no chance that we are moving there,” I thought.

My husband and I were partial to water. Arizona’s desert was not on our list of places where we wanted to live.

Six months passed, and Loren and I continued praying. A friend alerted Loren about an opening for a social-work professor at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, and we began to dream about a move.

Loren made a last-minute decision to attend the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas. While there, he saw horse-hair pottery off in the distance of the exhibition hall, and he soon found himself at the Holbrook Indian School booth. A woman at the booth noticed his badge with the letters “LCSW.” “Does that stand for ‘licensed clinical’ something?” she asked.

Loren nodded his head. “Licensed clinical social worker,” he said.

“We need one of those!” the woman exclaimed excitedly.

Loren smiled nervously, looking to make his escape, but the woman asked about his wife’s job. He responded that she worked in development at Florida Hospital.

“We need one of those, too!” the woman said, waving at her husband, who happened to be Holbrook’s principal.

Later Loren told me about what had happened. “Uh-oh,” I replied.

Weeks later, we decided to visit Holbrook at the end of a vacation. Before arriving, Loren received a call from Southern Adventist University. He had not gotten the job. Panic set in. I sensed that God was testing me to see whether I was willing to go wherever He led.

Loren and I spent more than nine hours talking with Holbrook staff about the school’s mission to Native American children and youth. We learned that the staff dreamed of having Christian counseling available around the clock for students dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. I struggled to sleep that night.

But before I opened my eyes in the morning, thoughts began racing through my mind about how wonderful it would be to work at Holbrook. Jumping out of bed, I noticed a familiar book on a bookshelf. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the same book, which Loren had received at the General Conference Session. I had packed it at the last minute. The book was titled, “Follow: Anytime, Anywhere, at Any Cost” by Don Maclafferty. At that moment, I knew God was calling me to Holbrook Indian School. I told God that He would have to put the same impression on Loren’s heart. I prayed and waited.

Several days later, as we entered our home in Florida, Loren announced that he felt convicted that God wanted us to move to Holbrook. That evening we submitted our resumes and began packing. Two weeks later we were hired. We are so glad that we followed God to Holbrook.

Please find the original article at https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa21q3-14?_ga=2.100873857.1233892389.1628688341-177141024.1608701455