The Unmovable Perkins??

I have heard it said that sometimes in life you get a "do over". That sounds great. A chance to start afresh and try not to make the same mistakes again. WELL LET ME TELL YOU NOT ALL DO-OVERS ARE THAT GOOD!!!

I have been sent a letter about my nursing application for Queensland- AGAIN they want me to resend everything anew. WHY!!!

I think this is all a sick joke and someone is laughing....

It took me months to complete the first one, but apparently the Queensland Nursing Board has ended and a new corporation has taken over and that is why the documentation change.

I'm really just whining! Poor me!! My timing and my idea of how this would go are completely obliterated. Now I have absolutely no idea what's going on--- but that's just how God likes it. Now He's able to move me out of the drivers seat and start driving the plane.

Ooh the places we will go!! Do I trust Him? I want to... Do I need Him? I act like I don't need anyone... Will I follow Him no matter what? Yes Lord, you know I will. If this all falls apart and I am left with nothing but a memory of a time when I might have gone to Australia, I love you more and will follow you forever!!! and ever Amen!!

This isn't the end- there is no end for those called according to His purposes, but we just don't always know what that purpose is. God is bigger, higher, wider, deeper than anything I could ever even imagine- it's time to let Him be that!! The big, big God that He is. So while I wait (sigh), I will remember " For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you!" Is 54:10

The Movable Perkins Act I

So we had renters ready to rent on the 1st of Sept! Their only request- air conditioning! The wife is pregnant and cannot possibly bear a summer without it here in Lakeside. Seems reasonable! I did want to replace our old A/C unit that caught fire several years ago. So we got some quotes and planned the job. Aug.10 (aprox 1 month after everything is a go) the rental wannabes back out! Deposit paid on the A/C- we go ahead as planned. No prospects for the rental now it's the 15th. "Lord, Lord, wherefore art thou, my Lord.....?"

I love my parents! They are very generous and wonderful... on most days! My dad and I are alot alike! Stubborn and reasonable. Loud and silent! You'd just have to see us in action to believe it! My family of 4 is going to be invading this couple's space very soon, and if we have no renters, it will be a very tight fit financially! (It is now but the renters were making it possible to look ahead)

I think God is showing me that every aspect of this plan has to be surrendered to Him or it won't work! I WANT God in control, I just forgot how to get out of the driver's seat! If I am trusting in money, or renters, or jobs, or visas... then that's just dumb! He has a plan and a way. No one can get to Australia except by Him!

I got the job!!

You know what's really cool? God knows everything! He knows what time we will wake and what time we sleep! What words will be spoken or thought of!! He KNEW I would get this job in Brisbane! A few months ago this same company tried to set up a phone interview with me and at the very time I was set to receive the call- our phone line went dead!!! Cox fixed it-3HOURS LATER!!! So I thought I blew it! I sent apologies via e-mail, but I was so discouraged and I felt like a failure. (I realized it wasn't my mistake but you know how it goes- us women take on every mistake as our responsibility!!) When a month later they requested a second interview I was shocked! But God knew- for some reason, I wasn't ready for the first interview, or they weren't ready, but whatever happened in the divine, God will was accomplished and I am blessed! I am ALWAYS blessed even when I don't feel like it! He has promised to keep me in the "cleft of His rock", "no one shall snatch me from the palm of His hand", "He is for me, who can be against?" I sometimes hate the way I feel- the way I feel doesn't change reality. Where I live doesn't change where I will go. Who we are is deep inside it comes from living, on this earth, what happens and who we know. (Jesus is a good one to know- I'm telling you!!)

So I am a little bit closer to the move but more important, I am a lot closer to the one who moves me!!!!

Any day now!

God loves me! Of that, I am positive! And because I know this , I follow His word, which says- "a man plans his ways, but the Lord guides his steps". We are also called to spread His word throughout all the earth. Also, He works all thing together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes! Wow! It's almost like a recipe for success, no matter what!! So while I am under steady progress toward my goal of nursing in Australia, I am also covered by God's ultimate goal-His good! He IS good isn't He? Amen!

I had a phone interview which was very successful with an Australian hospital on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane. they were very excited to have me on board. Now its just paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. My nursing application is still in progress.... (sigh) I feel a little bit closer!

A dear friend is moving away to North Carolina and another has moved to Oregon. I feel as if God is taking us all on our own little journeys to discover. To discover this big planet for His pleasure and His glory.....why not??!!

Well its a month since my last post and absolutely NOTHING has happened toward Australia! So I am forever hopeful and have been reading up on the country just to be prepared for what we're about to embark on! Little did I know...

80% of all that exists in Australia- exists nowhere else on earth.

And it has more things there that can kill you than anywhere else on earth!

5 of it's creatures: the funnel web spider, box jellyfish (known as "stingers"),, blue ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish are the most lethal of their type in the world!

Only Antarctica has a harsher life!!

All of these thrive well in Brisbane, along with hundreds of drowning victims every year due to the "rips" (riptides). And don't forget about your neighborhood crocs who jump up out of the local bay to ingest a tourist or two, quite frequently!

And my friends try to warn me about their sharks- I've swam with sharks (grey smoothies, but still!) and I am quite sure if I even venture into the water I won't be worried about a little shark or two!!

Isn't this exciting? (Don't read this Mom- it's not for the faint of heart!) It's the only thing that keeps Isaiah, my youngest even interested in going to the largest island on the planet!

The only living thing visible from space...The Great Barrier Reef still has animals that are uncatagorized and possibly unseen by human eyes!

These are OBVIOUSLY not reasons I am longing to embark on this adventure, but as a nurse I do see it as job security while there! I am sure that I myself would probably suffer a heart attack if faced with any of the above dangers, but mostly I would be dead! So I hereby promise to pray often and be careful!!

To err. is human, to wait...devine..!!

At church we have been studying the 10 commandments. I have broken almost every one and some, many, many times! I am the first to admit I am totally human! Which explains some behaviors I exhibit, but never excuses them!!

I have recently found that I really hate to wait and/or have to re-do something I put time and effort into! Who doesn't? Probably Jesus! He loves that kind of stuff, of course He's already been to the future...He known how it ends! But I DON"T! WAAAAA! ( I am such a cry baby)!

I have sent my nursing application, completed 3 times and just got it back AGAIN for having something submitted incorrectly!! Help! I can't call Australia every day or my nurse recruiter in London, England every time something is amiss! I don't even know what's wrong with it! I feel like hitting a rock, or throwing some tablets of stone down and breaking them! Ever have days like that??

Until I can get this settled, I am in a holding pattern....flying over the desert, the smelly, hot, dusty desert!

Thank God, I'm only human!!

Moses... put down that pen!

You know, Moses didn't write about stuff til after they happened. So much has happened since I last posted. Several hospitals are in the process of setting up phone interviews with me. My application was completed, (again) but this time with a trip to L.A. to the Australian Consulate. It took 31/2 hours there and more back (traffic) but I went with a dear friend and caught up on everything new under the sun! Well spent time!! The actual time in the embassy was about 15 minutes. Isn't that so the way it goes!!

I bring up Moses, because we are so much alike him and I! We both enjoy wearing sandals. We both are addicted to bread, (that was all he ate, the carb. monster)! And we both head out under God's direction, with very little support, belief in what we're doing, especially from our family. Now Aaron and Miriam tried, but when it got tough they whined alot and followed the crowd! I love my friends and family, as I know Moses did, but sometimes I'd like to break a few stone tablet over their heads!!

I feel very alone at times! It'd be great to have Moses appear to me on a mount of transfiguration! (Could I transfigure to a size six please?) What would he say to encourage me? Probably something like, "C-C-Cassie, God loves all these people on this journey with you, so b-b-be patient with them all! And stay away from the desert path, it takes alot longer!!"

I hope you all know ,as God definitely does, that I am NO Moses! But I appreciate knowing there is such a great cloud of witnesses that have gone before and wrote to tell about it!How truly blessed we are to have the Word of God as our pillar of fire by night!! No matter how dark! Some day I hope my blog may help someone else on a journey somewhere... at least to let them know they are not alone!!