BLUE - A Blog About God

Mark 8:34
Published August 21st, 2007 Uncategorized

Yesterday I panicked. Two years ago I decided I wanted to become a practitioner in the field of orthotics and prosthetics. About a year ago I changed my mind, mostly out of fear and the fact that it will be a LOT of work. A few months ago I changed my mind again and half decided to become a practitioner. By half I mean I figured out that God really has given me talents and abilities in this field and it is a field I am passionate about. I figured out that God put these desires in my heart, but I didn’t look the path directly in the eyes. Yesterday I did the research. Since I already have a baccalaureate degree, I have two possible paths. I can either get postbaccalaureate certificates (one for orthotics and one for prosthetics) or I can get a masters degree (in orthotics and prosthetics). I can do most of the coursework for certificates online but I would have to either go to Georgia Tech or East Michigan University for the masters. Masters programs in this field are a relatively new thing so if I go for certificates, I will probably eventually have a way to be grandfathered into a masters. (Probably just have my coursework for certificates count towards a masters and then take a class or two extra, or something like that.) Either path will take about the same amount of time. Either path requires me to take more coursework to meet the prerequisites. To go for a certificate, I will probably have to take out loans. Big ones. To go for a masters, I have opportunities to obtain assistantships, which would pay for my tuition and provide me with a stipend. Did I mention my husband is working on his doctorate no where near the states in which I could get a masters? Either way I am scared of the school work. A lot of it will be memorizing information, which does not come naturally to me. I am a lot better at analyzing a situation and applying knowledge. I am scared but I know I need to do this.


I’ve been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the chapter I read today, he broke apart Mark 8:34:


“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
It was a VERY good chapter. One sentence in particular hit me.


“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”


Some of you may feel I am overreacting about the path I am starting to see in front of me. You may even feel Mark 8:34 is overkill for my situation but here is what I see. I see God leading me somewhere I think is over my head. I feel very incapable. But if this is truly something God is calling me to do, I need to do it and trust Him to provide and pull me through this. I need to deny myself and trust Him. As my dad is always so quick to remind me that God has pulled me through so many situations. He has never given me a reason not to trust Him. This situation isn’t any different. I don’t have to decide right now if I am going to get certificates or a masters but I can at least get started on those prerequisites.


The next post I make will be a lighthearted one, I promise.