how others are living into
the great story
mission next: by Shannon Little
After finishing undergrad at UC Davis, I served as a missionary in South Africa. Towards the end of my second year I remember having conversations with my coach at the time about what direction my life might take back in the U.S. While I had some ideas, nothing could really prepare me for the overwhelming transition I was about to experience.
My transition was a slow and at times painful one to walk through, full of searching and wandering. I went from feeling extremely missional and purposeful to feeling a suffocating uncertainty about discerning God’s will for my future. I was grieving the loss of the country, culture, and church community I had come to love, as well as the loss of mentors who had coached, discipled, and cared for me those two years. I knew I had skills, strengths, and experience from vocational ministry, but translating them to the marketplace in a missional way was untested waters.
In almost every area of life I was starting from scratch and needed help, but I didn’t know where to turn. Even searching for a church community in a new city as a single person was more exhausting and daunting than I anticipated. To make matters worse, while I longed for discipleship, I was afraid of feeling like a burden to others and struggled to ask for help. Had I found a mentor and community of like-minded individuals sooner, I wonder how much richer that season could have been both spiritually and relationally.
Shannon is now a Marriage & Family Therapist with Soul Care House.
My transition was a slow and at times painful one to walk through, full of searching and wandering. I went from feeling extremely missional and purposeful to feeling a suffocating uncertainty about discerning God’s will for my future. I was grieving the loss of the country, culture, and church community I had come to love, as well as the loss of mentors who had coached, discipled, and cared for me those two years. I knew I had skills, strengths, and experience from vocational ministry, but translating them to the marketplace in a missional way was untested waters.
In almost every area of life I was starting from scratch and needed help, but I didn’t know where to turn. Even searching for a church community in a new city as a single person was more exhausting and daunting than I anticipated. To make matters worse, while I longed for discipleship, I was afraid of feeling like a burden to others and struggled to ask for help. Had I found a mentor and community of like-minded individuals sooner, I wonder how much richer that season could have been both spiritually and relationally.
Shannon is now a Marriage & Family Therapist with Soul Care House.
