One suggestion Ignatius makes is to imagine a person we never met who seeks our help in how to respond to God’s call in the same decision we are considering. We then observe what advice we give this person and follow it ourselves. This is helpful since most of us are better at giving others advice than at figuring out what we should do.
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If I attempt to concisely list 10 or so things in describing a situation … would anyone want to give me their thoughts or impressions … proverbs 15 : 22 plans succeed when advisors are many …
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the beginning sentences are copied and pasted from a google search: Marquette ignatian decision making link … could probably surf the web to find other ways of wording that idea.
…. in describing the situation, I am going to list some mistakes, errors, injustices or sins that I was involved in so it might not be the prettiest thing to read about prob. highly moronic actions … steps.
okay, here are 10 concise beginning preliminary points in describing my situation to a stranger. There are of course more than 10 points in describing one’s life story.
first day somewhere around sept. 1974, born June 15, 1975, so 43 years old, 43 years outside the womb. 25 years out of high school, 1993 - 2018.
26 years old, 2001, received a bachelor of arts in Spanish. So that was obviously 17 years ago already. What I explain to people is just because a person receives a degree in something, that just means that you met the requirements to get the degree. If a person has a degree in engineering, that doesn’t mean that one is a top notch engineer. [[[ I had intentions at one point of teaching Spanish but never finished the teaching part of it. ]]] I can survive and communicate in Spanish. My Spanish level is probably close to as high as it has been in my life. In the past I prayed about what Spanish level God wanted me to obtain. For example, a medical emergency level or police level of Spanish … does God want that. I am not there yet.
okay, try to keep this concise … 33 years old became a registered nurse from a technical college. Associates degree in nursing, ADN
never received the sacrament of matrimony. don’t have any children.
just as background, in part because of various family of origin challenges, family of origin dis-unity, …when an employer or landlord asks for a first emergency contact, I am not 100% sure who to write down. Banks and insurance also ask for beneficiaries, so same deal - not 100% sure who to write down. In the middle part of the hail mary and thus the rosary, there is the visitation, Mary and Elizabeth. I don’t have that visitation aspect in my life. Point attempting to make, first emergency contact challenges. [[[ I could have and should have volunteered once a month, once every two weeks or once a week to help in this area but did not. Also, I changed nursing employment way, way too much so that didn’t help either. ]]]
With the Sacrament of Matrimony and with the Spanish … I did go on some Catholic dating websites and got to know, to a degree, some women from other countries, Spanish speaking countries. Catholic Catechism 1731, by free will one shapes one’s own life … If I really went in that direction, it is probably possible for me to become much, much, much closer to marriage in a very short time. // I have talked to various priests about this long term dating type of thing. One common advice received was to be sure to make an INFORMED DECISION.
[[[ preliminary intro note: my natural parents seldom talked about money that I heard. I am aware of the sermon on the mount and can’t serve God and riches. I have definitely attempted to love God above all things. I do not consider myself money hungry at all. If I mention wages of an employment situation, it is just a fact of the situation. ]]] So I started a new nursing employment situation at a nursing home on the north side of milwaukee. It seems to be going well. simple fact of the situation it is something like 33+ dollars an hour and they don’t have shift bonuses or shift differentials. right now I am paying 560 in rent for a studio efficiency apartment in a northern suburb of milwaukee.
Yesterday I received an official job offer to be a nurse at a nursing home in Seward alaska. It is a 2000 population fishing town something like 120 or 150 miles from Anchorage. The cost of living in Alaska is more and they pay you more. So the wages are like 37 an hour to start and then a 2/3 dollars more for working at night and 2/3 dollars more for working on the weekends. so the top without overtime is like 42+ an hour on a weekend evening/night. They offered me 5000 dollars bonus to start plus 2,500 dollars to help me drive up there, like a 4 -5 day drive. If I would get married and my wife would be ready to give birth, I am not sure I would still be working in Seward. If i was still working in Seward at that time, only 2 babies were born in Seward last year … it seems the women go to Anchorage for their last weeks of pregnancy. As of right now, I am not aware of a a requirement to pay back part of that 5000 or 2,500 if only work a year in Seward vs. two years or three years. // one part of initially applying to Alaska was somewhere around 40 an hour and then the time and half over time of 40 … four works of mercy, house the homeless, feed hungry, drink to thirsty, clothe naked. // it looks like the average temperatures in seward are between 20 and 60 year round, which is very livable … that is, it could be colder. for example, fargo ND gets colder than that and Fargo also gets in to the 90s.
with the recent Seward offer, major considerations would include (1) my first emergency contact situation, social isolation aspects, (2) If I am going to get married, it could seem that Seward really hurts me as far as making a necessary informed decision with the Sacrament of Matrimony.
I did or do have some thoughts of staying in Southeast wisconsin, metro milwaukee area until maybe next spring and then maybe start applying to south texas, borderland texas, el paso tx, laredo tx, etc. (tucson, southern new mexico, hobbs new mexico) Those areas can bring thoughts of increased violence. Milwaukee had somewhere around 120 murders and homicides in 2017. El Paso had something like 12. Laredo homicide numbers are higher than el paso and laredo is smaller than el paso but the Laredo murder rate is still markedly lower than milwaukee.
Okay, i could write a ton more but that is a start, … feel free to share any thoughts about how you would advise what you would suggest. That is, reject or accept the Seward Alaska offer … remembering that the Seward decision also impact any possible Sacrament of matrimony as well as works of mercy. At least the works of mercy were a major part of my thought process when I applied. First emergency contact and aspects of social isolation could also be considered quite heavily. Any employment situation also impacts my own future owning of a residence. I do not own a house right now. // feel free to ask any questions you want. // could write much more especially about past patterns of unholy weakness, sins, mistakes, errrors particular to my history, etc. // what might be good to consider // don’t want to fall into superstition or poor reasoning but I do attempt to keep my eyes and ears open regarding small daily events which could have a person lean one way or the other. We believe in a personal God, etc. I could possibly communicate about that, the last days or last week. what touched my heart the last week or chance things last week or even dreams last week, etc.
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