Now that that is over...

I can take a deep breath and relax! I don't know why I was so uptight about this whole psychologist thing. The whole experience was not bad at all; not even the driving to get there. Granted, I had to drive on crazy roads with congestion and all that stuff, and endure the woeful experiences of toll booths, but it all went just fine. The place was easy to find, and I was even about 20 minutes early, so I wasn't having to freak out about being late. I walked into the office and the interviewer had no one else waiting so she took me right in. There was no big couch to lay on and discuss anything. She simply led me into the room, motioned toward the chair I was to sit in, and then sat down herself. Before she let me read the report, she asked for some information about me, just to kind of get to know me. The person who had prepared the report and the interviewer were not the same person. So, I told her a little about my sense of call and my past. She asked me some questions as to how I might deal with conflict or things that could arise that would warrant decision making on my part. I told her how I would ideally handle conflict and she seemed content with my answer. Then, she handed me the report and left the room for me to be able to read it in peace. I have to admit that I'm glad she left the room because I could feel my face turning red. I don't really know why; I wasn't embarrassed or mad or anything. Perhaps it was because the report was very close to how I am and for them to be able to tell all that about me from those questions is just really something. I also was glad she left because there were a few parts that made me almost laugh out loud. Those were the parts that were pretty much either dead on or dead off. I don't know. After I finished reading the report, she came back in, asked me how I felt about it and if I felt comfortable releasing it to the Candidacy Committee, and if I felt any changes needed to be made. I thought that generally, it was pretty spot on. There were a few things I didn't agree with, but it wasn't that important to tell them. She also asked if I had any questions about what was written. I didn't. So, because I agreed with the report, she signed some things, I signed some things, and then we said goodbye. Overall, it was an interesting, productive day. They let me have a copy of the report to take home, so I've read it a few times just to get a kick out of it. Once I got home, I decided to go to the neighboring town where my church is. I thought I'd stop in and see if Pastor was there so I could tell him about my day. I walked in and he was in his office, and he invited me in. I invited him to read the report and we had a short talk about direction and discernment. At the end of our short chat, we shared a prayer and then I went on my merry little way. And the best part about the day? They recommended me for approval! Yay! Granted, there are some issues that they'd like to see me improve upon, but I fell within the "normal" range for everything. I'm so thrilled. Maybe I'll talk more about this later. Right now I'm really tired, but really content. I hope you all are feeling well, too.