When we were asked to write a devotional for this booklet, it was suggested we reflect on how God has been with us on our personal journey over the past couple of years. During that period of time, I have been completing the Master of Divinity program at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, anticipating graduation in May 2024. I will graduate from seminary 40 years after graduating from high school. That’s forty years wandering in the wilderness of trying to find my niche, my purpose, my calling. I wandered through careers in non-profit, accounting, teaching and instructional design but I still had not found the “promised land,” that role in life where my talents, my passion, and the world’s need all aligned.
When I started seminary, I wasn’t intending to be a pastor. I just wanted to learn more about God. So in 2018, I took a class at Lexington Theological Seminary, offered in an on-line, asynchronous format so I could fit attending class into my full schedule with two kids and a full-time job. I liked it, so I enrolled in another class, then another. And as I continued taking classes, I began to feel the call to full-time ministry, and moved into the M.Div track. I began to reflect on all the pastors that had played such a major role in my own spiritual development, especially George Reese. I reflected on how knowing God’s unconditional love had changed my life, and I wanted others to know that love, too.
By this time it was 2020 and we were in lockdown. Virtual classrooms were ideal during a pandemic. But as vaccines became available I wanted the experience of a seminary community that I could be physically present with. I was also feeling more confident in my call to pastoral ministry, and decided now was the time to pursue my degree full-time. This was not an easy decision. I was wrapping up a project management stint at Honda and had lucrative opportunities there for the taking. But I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. Making that decision was my Mt Sinai moment. My future was cast and there was no turning back. I found my way to Trinity and joined a wonderful cohort of students working through their second year of Seminary. This group of students embraced me as one of their own and together we learned about God. A year of full-time studies and another year of internship later, here I am, a (nearly) full-time pastor at Highwater UCC Church in Newark, anticipating graduation and ordination this summer.
There is no way I would have made my way to the other side of the wilderness without God’s leading. God led me to a new vocation, two new schools, and a first-call at a church that loves me as much as I love them. It’s never too late for God to lead us out of the wilderness.
Gladys Davis
Highwater UCC, Newark