It is saturday and I have to go to work tonight at my minimum wage, going-nowhere job.
So why am I so excited abut it; why do I feel so blessed today? It started in college (and probably much earlier than that). After some initial trepidation, I had proudly settled on social work as a major. I was going to graduate with a Bachelor of Social Work degree. Then, I was going to go out and get a real job; because thats what hard working, well intentioned college graduates do. I was going to do something important. So, after Alex and I were married and moved to Spokane I started job hunting. As neither of us had jobs at the time and the economy in Spokane is abysmal, I jumped on the first opportunity that seemed relevant to my studies. For the next nine months I worked as a care taker in the home of four developmentally disabled women. I learned a few things during this time. First, there is no cure for introversion. Working with challenging individuals forty hours per week including a borderline tyrannical house manager (one of my coworkers resigned due to panic attacks at work) drained me a little more each week, until I had nothing left to give. Second, my work life, no matter how I try to shake it, directly affects the quality of life in my home. Incase you have any doubts about that, just ask Alex. In the end, I had to throw in the towel and hope I could find something better the next time around. After two months of being unemployed and Alex leaving work to start school, I was desperate for work again. Of all the panicked searching I did over those two months from government jobs to waitressing, the only place that was hiring was a house cleaning company. As thrilled as I was to be making a paycheck, I was mortified at the idea of scrubbing toilets with a perfectly good college degree under my belt. Wasn't I cut out for something more important than this? Shouldn't God provide me with a job that would prepare me for missions? But most of all, it was a blow to my elevated pride. In all of these things I was a fool; God knew exactly what He was doing. For the next year I worked, HARD. I moped, scrubbed, dusted, and listened. I listened to my coworkers, I listened to my managers, and I listened to my customers. While I listened I processed. I learned many things that year. Not the least of which, everything I have and everything I am are not of my own doing. Christ blessed my youth with a supportive home, a great education, church fellowship, and so many other things without which I would be as bitter and lost as many of the women I worked with. I learned many other valuable things as well; but in the end the caddy and pessimistic environment began to take its toll on my heart. So it was time to move on again. Now I work as a barista at a local coffee shop. I look at the journey I have taken over the past two years and I am floored by how much Christ has taught me not only in my professional endeavors but through marriage and others as well. I can truly say that I am blessed to have a job in an encouraging environment, that pays the bills, allows me the time to seek out volunteering opportunities, and to be more involved in Alex's life at Moody. I can also say with confidence: I am right where God wants me to be. Perhaps 'doing something important' simply means supporting my husband through a difficult program as he trains to be a missionary pilot and learning to see God's guiding hand even in the little things. ~ Trish
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AuthorsWe are just a couple of kids from Iowa learning to trust Christ daily and aiming to serve Him though mission aviation. Archives
August 2023
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