When I quit work to become a stay at home mom, I threw out the idea of a typical retirement. I wasn’t passionate about my previous job at all, I just liked that it had a good retirement. That made me feel safe and taken care of.
When my oldest son was born, and Erik told me I could be a stay at home mom if I wanted to, it was a no brainer. I couldn’t imagine anyone else raising my son. Being a full time mom is such a blessing, and it is my calling.
However, I still worried about the future, and I wanted to make my own money. I tried various part time jobs, but there just wasn’t enough of me to go around. After my health scare, I decided to just give it to God. I prayed that God would lead me to what was right for me and my family.
I was presented with the opportunity to take a trading course. Upon hearing about it from trusted family members who had taken the course, I felt like this was an answer to prayer and exactly where I needed to be.
I was very excited but also nervous. For years, I’ve wanted to get involved with something like this, but I doubted my ability to grasp these concepts. I enjoy and excel at things like writing, yoga, singing. I tend to do more right brained things, so the idea of taking on a left brained feat like trading quite frankly stressed me out. However, I knew I could do it if I just applied myself.
In the past, when faced with left brained challenges, I just leaned in and went above and beyond to figure it out.
I started taking the course with the idea that I would just study, show up early, talk to people when I need help etc. However, from day one, I realized just how limited I am trying to do this with two children including one nursing baby in my care.
It has been very overwhelming just trying to get to the meetings on time. Finding childcare has been difficult, and I have been lucky to get to the Zoom meetings on time, let alone early. The tutoring meeting times are when Erik is working, so I have yet to find a sitter to be able to talk to someone one on one.
Saturday, just before the class started, I was feeling very down and frustrated about this. I started questioning if I could do it at all.
I rebounded. I remembered how strongly I felt that this was an answer to prayer. I decided that there was never going to be a perfect time, and I just needed to find a way to make this work.
This morning was another class day. Yesterday, I laid out my and the boys’ clothes, prepped my coffee, breakfast etc. I woke up early rearing to go and determined to finally have a smooth morning.
My mother-in-law, Janet was going to babysit the kids for me. Thirty minutes before class started, Janet called and told me that traffic was super backed up and the GPS told her it would take two hours for her to arrive.
I handled the news like a champ. I set Eli up with a movie on my iPad, and I was about to log into the zoom meeting when all of a sudden, Eli puked all over himself and my bed.
Then all over my bedroom floor.
Then in the hallway.
Then all over the bathroom.
I helped him out of his puke clothes, tried to comfort him, and put him in a warm Epson salt tub.
I frantically ran around shoveling puke into a garbage bag. On my hands and knees, I proceeded to scrub my carpets. Defeated, I thought to myself, maybe now just isn’t the time for this.
God spoke clearly to my heart, “The devil comes to steal and kill and destroy. Don’t let that happen.”
I cleaned the rest of the puke, and grabbed my son a towel and some jammies. My mother-in-law texted me that she was actually only going to be a few minutes late. The GPS gave her biking directions for some reason.
Literally jumping over the wet spot on the floor and into my chair, I signed on to the Zoom meeting a bit late.
Just as I tuned in, the teacher, Earl said, “Elevate past your limitations.”
Mic drop moment for me right there.
“Elevate past your limitations.”
I have quite literally been feeling handicapped and limited by my situation. That statement couldn’t have been more profound for me in that moment.
He proceeded to talk trading. At one point, speaking about taking losses, a student asked, “if we lose, do we just hunker down?” Earl immediately stopped him and said something along the lines of, “No, we do not ever ‘hunker down.’ That is a scarcity mindset. We get excited when we lose, because we can learn, and we get to go to work.”
This was a God moment for me also because it instantly reminded me of my childhood pastor, Jim VanDenHouten Sr.. When things seemed tough or hopeless, he would say, “Isn’t it exciting to see what God is going to do next?!”
Since the time I received the true positive for Leukemia that ended up being a “fluke” as my oncologist called it, that message has been beating in my heart.
Earl and the other veterans of the class keep saying, “You’re at the right place at the right time.” Today, God said to me, “Kelsea, you are at the right place at the right time.”
So, “Isn’t it exciting to see what God is going to do next!”
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