Dear Ms Anonymous,
Do you ever feel like you pray for something, and then years go by, and nothing happens? Then one day, out of the clear blue sky you realize that your prayer was fulfilled?
That’s what happened when I prayed for a sabbatical.
It must have been 8 or more years since I prayed that I wanted, needed actually, a sabbatical. I had been working a typical 9-5 job, with a one hour commute each way, and going to graduate school after work. My days were filled. And even though it was my choice, I just needed a break!
Answered prayer through an answered call
It wasn’t the type of serious prayer that you use when you have a person in your life that’s sick. No, I prayed a casual prayer – God, just give me a sabbatical!
I wanted to be able to take a few weeks off from work without needing to take PTO (paid time off), and not having to request permission to be away from my regular life for a while. My body was begging to slow down. I needed some quiet time to think. My brain was working really hard – trying to do all the things.
Fast forward a lot more years of working 9-5, and going to classes, this time it was MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting). 8 hours spent every Saturday learning how to be a foster parent. Learning about how trauma affects the brain. So that was 6 days a week of my brain constantly in overdrive. There was a calling on my heart that I knew I had to answer. Foster care.
I only had 20 days of paid time off to divide into days for vacation, doctor’s appointments, and being sick. God, I prayed – don’t let me get sick so I can take a vacation, or two this year, especially before we get called for placement of a child.
In 6 months, I didn’t get sick. My body continued to be in overdrive, and working hard to get everything accomplished. And the whole time I was trying to figure out how I was going to manage going to work, and helping a child assimilate to a new environment.
What I didn’t know was that God had me. The prayer that I had prayed so many years ago was going to come to pass in my life. My sabbatical was coming.
I got what I prayed for
Days before the arrival of the child, the company I work for sent me an e-mail detailing their new family leave policy. The policy would allow me to take 6 weeks off!! What?!? Thank you, Jesus!
At the time it wasn’t really what I wanted. I had fought for, and advocated for being able to take the time intermittently so that I could spend more time during the rest of the year helping the child assimilate to his new home.
That wasn’t what God had planned for me. I had prayed to be able to take a break from working – and here it was. My prayer to slow down and quiet my mind had been answered. And it wasn’t until I sat on my porch, one quiet morning, after I had driven the child to the day camp I had already signed him up for that I realized my prayer had been answered.
I now had plenty of time to focus on projects that I had neglected, read new books, relax and enjoy the quiet sunshine filled days of June. And then I was able to do a little bit of traveling to see my family in early July. It was a glorious 6 weeks.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized that I was blessed with another sabbatical. Unfortunately, the circumstances this time aren’t as joyous. With the stay at home orders issued for the Coronavirus, it seems that everyone is having a sabbatical.
How should we use this time?
Everyone is probably wondering, how should we use this newfound time off. Well, you could spend every day watching the news. But that gets sad and depressing after about 15 minutes.
Instead, how about you use the time to learn a skill, or practice an old one that you set aside? How about spending your newfound time getting lost in reading? I wonder how many of the books that line our shelves we could actually get through! Or we could find things to sort and organize – clean out our clutter and make way for new blessings.
There’s so much we can do during this stay at home time. I’m choosing to spend time writing on this blog to you all, and learning more about myself. I’ve decided to spend time listening to messages that serve me, instead of ones that take me down a rabbit hole. I’m loving my time off, because I’m not sure when I’ll be able to just sit, and color, and visualize my future, again.
So, the next time you decide to pray – I urge you to do so with intentionality… but also to ask God for what you need. You never know how and when He will answer your prayers. But I can tell you this, it’ll be nothing like you expect.
With love,
P.S. – What’s your “sabbatical prayer”? And how long did it take for it to be answered?