God Alone Fuels our Fire
My name is Joe and I have been on a wild roller coaster with the Lord lately. I recently started a fire academy that has been 3 years in the making. I left my career as an athletic trainer of 5 years to step into the world of firefighting because I felt the Lord called me to it. I have always lived desiring to see his kingdom come in more than just ministry moments or the church, but seeing him move and come in our workplaces. So, I thought this was just a move of a career, nothing else. What came after I said yes to firefighting rocked me in every way imaginable.
Long story short after saying yes we lost our entire community and struggled to make ends meet. I questioned continuing to pursue this almost every week. I came close to getting hired a few times but was told thanks but no thanks. I didn't understand why it wasn't working out for me. As the no's kept coming I felt defeated in all walks of life. I had nothing left. I was tired, sad, and confused. But after 2 years of interviews, applications, and searching I got an offer for the very station I’ve been working in as an EMT! It’s a smaller station that doesn’t have many openings and usually hires from academy graduates so I thought there wasn’t any chance I’d get in but here I am today. I realize in hindsight that God literally was protecting me from some gnarly places and brought me to a place where I could truly make an impact for his kingdom. I had been working so hard in my own strength, how I thought I should do it, to get the job I wanted instead of letting God lead me how He wanted and where He wanted.
In this desperate space is where I found new relationships. It was in a desperate season and a vulnerable state that God literally brought me to a group of men that helped carry me through the moments that I needed to be carried.
It was through these new relationships I started to see how much pressure I was putting on myself, and my family, in this firefighting process. It was through this community that I realized more than anything else, I can't do this without Him, nor do I want to do it without Him, and that He’ll lead me and provide for me, if I let Him. I learned to wait on the Lord. I was reminded to let him lead and I finally did just that.
This process had God written all over it. I literally had a mediocre interview. Scored a 100%. I did not study for the chief's interview because I felt the Lord say "Don't, I will give you what to say". He did, it was my first interview where I actually talked about Jesus. I began to realize looking back on the journey, with my community, that I was more focused on portraying and being what I thought these departments wanted me to be instead of being who I am. I didn't hold anything back and felt the most me. There is so much more I could go into but I don't have enough space to share but seriously, God has provided for me and gave me this job! BUT more than that I look back on this 3 year journey and I see how much this process has grown me and made me more into the man he has always intended me to be. It also is a huge testimony of God designing us to be in community. We were not made to do life alone in a vacuum. We need people. We need the body. I can say I don't know if I would be where I am now if it wasn't for this community.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Long story short after saying yes we lost our entire community and struggled to make ends meet. I questioned continuing to pursue this almost every week. I came close to getting hired a few times but was told thanks but no thanks. I didn't understand why it wasn't working out for me. As the no's kept coming I felt defeated in all walks of life. I had nothing left. I was tired, sad, and confused. But after 2 years of interviews, applications, and searching I got an offer for the very station I’ve been working in as an EMT! It’s a smaller station that doesn’t have many openings and usually hires from academy graduates so I thought there wasn’t any chance I’d get in but here I am today. I realize in hindsight that God literally was protecting me from some gnarly places and brought me to a place where I could truly make an impact for his kingdom. I had been working so hard in my own strength, how I thought I should do it, to get the job I wanted instead of letting God lead me how He wanted and where He wanted.
In this desperate space is where I found new relationships. It was in a desperate season and a vulnerable state that God literally brought me to a group of men that helped carry me through the moments that I needed to be carried.
It was through these new relationships I started to see how much pressure I was putting on myself, and my family, in this firefighting process. It was through this community that I realized more than anything else, I can't do this without Him, nor do I want to do it without Him, and that He’ll lead me and provide for me, if I let Him. I learned to wait on the Lord. I was reminded to let him lead and I finally did just that.
This process had God written all over it. I literally had a mediocre interview. Scored a 100%. I did not study for the chief's interview because I felt the Lord say "Don't, I will give you what to say". He did, it was my first interview where I actually talked about Jesus. I began to realize looking back on the journey, with my community, that I was more focused on portraying and being what I thought these departments wanted me to be instead of being who I am. I didn't hold anything back and felt the most me. There is so much more I could go into but I don't have enough space to share but seriously, God has provided for me and gave me this job! BUT more than that I look back on this 3 year journey and I see how much this process has grown me and made me more into the man he has always intended me to be. It also is a huge testimony of God designing us to be in community. We were not made to do life alone in a vacuum. We need people. We need the body. I can say I don't know if I would be where I am now if it wasn't for this community.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Recent
Archive
2023
Categories
no categories
No Comments