Planning vs. Preparation

This last month has flown - which I have to admit I wasn't expecting! I definitely anticipated my third trimester to be the slowest, but it's going by way more quickly than I've been okay with at different points if I'm being completely honest. A week ago, I felt overwhelmed by the task list I felt I needed to complete before leaving work for a bit while also feeling terrified by the reality of how soon we will hopefully have our baby home with us. Thankfully, after processing that with some people and God I am feeling much better this week. Not only do I feel as though I have my ducks in a row, but I feel great about my coworkers' abilities to take on whatever I am handing off. I feel silly for ever even questioning that considering my teammates have always been eager to help one another out and carry each other's loads.

A FOCUS coworker, Sirak, visited our church this weekend and gave a message on worship. Ultimately, the message boiled down to the difference between planning for something and preparing our hearts for something - whether it be showing up to a worship service with our community, our approach to facilitating events for our students, or even something like having a baby. It was a rather timely message considering there is only so much I am capable of planning for in this season. Sure I can have a nursery set up, I can have someone lined up to meet with all of the leaders I've been meeting with on a weekly basis, train someone to cover my admin roles, attend all of the baby care classes available to me...but at the end of the day I have no clue what it will be like to be a first time parent. Anything can happen in the hospital, there's no way to troubleshoot every possible thing that could come up while I'm gone that we missed, even when I'm not on leave it's pretty complex to anticipate and plan what every single student needs week to week.

All that to say, I've been reflecting on the question "are you more concerned with planning and predicting or praying and preparing?" It certainly stings at moments, and sure there are ways we can plan and predict based on the experienced people who are giving us advice and who have gone before us, but is my heart prepared for the unexpected or for things to maybe go a bit differently than I plan?

Ooof. Thank you for tuning into my thoughts from the month! They've certainly been a whirlwind, but I truly am grateful for the support we have from you my ministry partners, our families, my coworkers, my students, my friends...it's unreal to see how loved our child is already.

Anyways, I'm sure you expected some ministry photos from this month...but I've been terrible at capturing those!! I've got a couple. But my next update (it could be a bit more than a month just because of potential sleep deprivation) will likely have lots of cute baby pictures along with some fall ministry updates I'll hear from my coworkers and pass on to you!

Here is our Collin staff team...the only picture we have from the year so far.

"Leave an anxiety, take an affirmation" is a simple event we hosted on campus a couple weeks ago to meet new people and let them know they're seen and we care about what is stressing them out. It was encouraging to see our students eager to jump into this event as well as see new students so thankful that there are people on campus who care for them!

Like I mentioned above, I'm not sure exactly when my next update will be, but I'm eager to do so soon!! I have 12 full weeks of maternity leave, but it's flexible how I decide to take them. Thank you all for making this possible for me and no doubt the students at Collin are in great care thanks to you and our entire network of ministry partners.

With love,

Jacy