It's A Calling
2015 was the year I had the dream of a community center. This center provided services from multiple disciplines, including primary care, medication management, and therapy. Going into detail would be saying too much, but I held onto that dream for many years. I was in graduate school at the time, with three kids, a full-time job, and a full school schedule. I had three more years to go, and the fear of the practicum and internship caused me to quit the program and complete my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. Not all master's are created equal, and this did not allow me to practice in the field, blocking my ability to move forward with the vision.
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Fast forward to 2019, God picked me up, turned me around, and placed my feet on solid ground, as the song says. However, I fell into a valley: I left my job without security, re-entered the program I feared, and put my complete trust in God. I saw nothing but mountains. My new job was on faith, and I shouldn't have been hired, BUT GOD always makes a way where the world says no. I went to work at a psychiatric/detox unit with no experience and no qualifications.
Not long after starting this new chapter in my life the vision came back. An audible name came to me one morning doing my morning walk and talk with God. Shai. I wrote it down, prayed about it, and was still unsure if I heard correctly. It came again. Shai.
I requested a sign, something, anything, from God for a direction. I was led to Genesis 17:15, where the names of Sarai and Abram were changed. Does God still do this? Am I crazy? Not sure either way, but I was convinced that this was going to be a name change for me. What does Shai even mean? In Hebrew, it means "The Gift". How do you tell people without them thinking you're nuts? This is still in progress.
During my time working within the hospital, I met two people who shared my deep concern about how the system was failing our communities. They also shared a love for being vessels of God. Together, we would complain about the lack of services, the barriers to care, and why no one was doing anything about it.
I got brave. I shared my vision with them, along with the name Shai, and awaited their laughter at how insane it would be to achieve such a lofty vision. To my surprise, they asked how we should get started.
I had no idea, but they gave me the confidence to get started. Karla McCall and Kenneth Fox became the first members of the board for Shai Ministries, Inc. Karla expressed a similar passion with her brother, Derrick Chalfant, and now we have four board members. Together, we are going to figure this out!
"Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end- it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay."
Habakkuk 2:2-3