If I Only Had a Blog

I love to reflect and remember how God has been involved in every detail of my life, even the things that I think don’t matter to Him. God is all-knowing and is intimately involved in all that goes on in my life. April of 2007 was a busy month for me. I was finishing up my internship, making final wedding plans, pursuing a career in Fort Myers, lingerie shower, going on a trip to the beach with my best girlfriends from AU, and my grandfather was very sick. I truly believe that God works for the good of those who love Him. But if we think it stops there, we’ve missed the point. He works for our good so that we, in turn, will give Him the glory for what He has done in our lives. We can’t forget to give Him the honor for the blessings in our life. On  Saturday, April 14th, I had my lingerie shower in Auburn. I specifically remember choosing that weekend because we were out of school on the 16th and I would be able to stay in Auburn and relax (I had been going home literally every weekend that semester getting ready for the wedding, so staying in Auburn for the weekend was a big deal). After the shower, I decided instead to drive home Sunday morning and spend the night. Sunday night we went to my grandparent’s house. My grandfather was very ill and was lying in his hospital bed in his bedroom. I remember visiting with him, hugging him and holding onto his hand as he said “I love you shug”, knowing that it would be the last time I would see him. I didn’t try to deny it, I knew that he would be going to meet his Savior that week. I returned to Auburn on Monday and it was back to my routine Tuesday morning. I told my cooperating teacher about my grandfather’s situation just so she would have a heads up in case I didn’t return that week. That night, my dad was passing through Auburn and he took me to Longhorn’s for dinner. We were talking about Pop Pop and I told him that, although it may be selfish, I didn’t want his death and funeral arrangements to interfere with the Lee County Schools job fair in Fort Myers the following week. Dad assured me that, first of all, I wasn’t being selfish and second of all, Pop Pop wouldn’t live past Wednesday. Sure enough, I was headed to the tanning bed after school on Wednesday and Dad called me to tell me that Pop Pop was really not doing well. We hung up, I called Brent to let him know, and Dad called me back less than a minute later to let me know that Pop Pop was gone. So after a meal over Chick-fil-A with Kristen and Allison, I packed up my things. My original plan was to head home after school on Thursday. I had to make up any days that I missed, so I was trying to keep that to a minimum. My cooperating teacher wouldn’t let me stay. She knew I needed to go on home and she said she wouldn’t mention this to my advisor. I actually got home in time to go to the funeral home with my family to plan the funeral. The visitation and funeral were on Friday and I returned to Auburn on Sunday night. The following Wednesday, I flew down to Fort Myers to attend the job fair on Thursday. The job fair started at 9 and was supposed to last until 4. This is the part that gets me every time I think about it…one of the pastors at my church in the Ham has a sister that is a principal in Fort Myers. He told me about this and offered to put in a few good words for me. She was the only principal I interviewed with that day and she offered me a job. At 10:00, after only an hour of “meet and greet” time, I walked out of the conference center with a signed contract in hand to teach 4th grade at Mirror Lakes. How random is that? Don’t tell me it’s just a coincidence. It wasn’t coincidence at all. It was random enough for me to be moving to Fort Myers, but even more crazy that there was a principal there that I had a connection with. God’s hands were all over that situation. It still amazes and humbles me. You may think that it’s nothing to get all excited about, but I think it’s clear evidence of my loving God taking care of my every need. And to this day, I wonder, why did God even bother to give me that job if he knew that less than 2 months later, I would be walking into her office to get out of my contract? It’s simple–so that I can know and understand the Provider of my every need. I have no reason to ever doubt His provision over my life because He has made it clear to me that He takes care of all the details. Yes, He could have not given me a job, but then I would have missed out on the blessing of knowing I can trust Him. On Friday, I flew to North Carolina then Birmingham, drove to Auburn to pick up Allison, Ashley, Rebecca and Jessica, then drove to Gulf Shores. Whew…what a week and a half! And I’m sorry for the long blog…but for me, it’s in all those details that I marvel at God.