Making [small] Progress!

Anyone seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church can tell you- its a long, lengthy, difficult process for reasons aside from wanting to "filter out" folks who might want to consider another vocation. Its painful and full of loopholes, and sometimes, it feels like the "lucky" are the ones who get through in a timely fashion.

I began the process to become a certified candidate for ordained ministry in July of 2005. The process to becoming certified usually takes up to one year. As of today, I am still not certified... but I am getting close!

One thing after another - most of which have been out of my own control- have prevented me from becoming certified until now. From difficulties finding a mentor in the area I live in (part of this was "my" problem, for I recognize this is far more complicated when I live outside of my home conference!), to troubles with paperwork that were filled out and never got to their destination, it really has been a troubling process.

The next (and almost final) step for me is to have my psych evaluation read by the psychiatrist in my home conference (Dakotas). I took the written evaluation back in November...

Today, I finally got ahold of the one person in Nashville who can help me move on from here. She had mixed news: the good was that my psych evaluation has been passed off to a doctor so it can be "read"! The bad news: it was sent to an office near where I go to school, not to the one in my conference who takes care of all the psych assessments for the conference.

There are pros and cons of having it read elsewhere, but as there is little time, that is how it is going to have to be. (the rest of the steps need to be completed before March 31 if I want to be certified this spring... which I do for many reasons!)

ahhh. So glad to know this is finally moving along. I'm going to keep praying about it as I move on to the next steps, which I feel I can now do with other things moving along. I just hope that my struggle with this process- struggles that have never been intended to be a part of the process- can be learned from to prevent others from the same issues...