Job News, Power of Prayer, Meeting Friends

Well, it has been a while since I last published an entry. I’ve written and not published. I even unpublished my last published entry…hehehe I wanted to write more these past few days. But my path didn’t lead me to the keyboard. Today, I’m back at it. Will I publish this? If you are reading it, then I likely did…LOL

I’m going to come out of the gate with some exciting news. Back in February, I mentioned a transition going on at my work where my job was going to be outsourced to a third party. We were told many of us would be moving to the new company and we should know something about that later in February or March. Well, I didn’t make the first cut and did not know where I’d be headed later this year. The new company, stay with the remnant of the current one, or be on the search for a new employer? Well, today I received the news that the new company was finally interested in having me join their team! Yay!!! After 4 months of waiting, I now know the answer to the question of where I’ll be heading…hehehe

Over the course of the past few months, a few job opportunities came to my attention. One of those included a management position at Walt Disney World. That one actually came up twice during this waiting period…hehehe On that one, I asked a few of my closest people to pray with me about it when the second time came around. Both times, God’s answer was no. I can’t say I actually understood the answer at the time. In fact, the timing of it almost seemed like divine intervention…LOL So why then was God saying no. With the no came wait. He was asking me to wait and trust Him. Sometimes what seems like God handing an opportunity on a silver plater is actually a test. He knew the Disney job would open up and that I would be interested. I could have gone after it, and according to a reliable source, I had an excellent shot at getting the position. There was also a career path within Disney I was quite interested in that I won’t go into. But I mention it because there were so many signs pointing me to go after that job. But God said, no, wait, trust.

As I mentioned in my original announcement, my first response to the news was to thank God for always being my provider. I feel He put me to the test on my belief. And I’m glad He did. Back then, I was trusting God. Today I still trust Him. The 4 months in between, I trusted and waited. He knows what He is doing. Even when I don’t understand His ways, all I need to do is trust Him with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. In all my ways, I want to acknowledge Him, and He will make my path straight. Today’s news is that God’s provision will be through a new company…while I continue to do my current job…Praise the Lord 🙌

These past few days have been interesting. I won’t go into all of the details, but the main thing I want to say is that it was proof my heart has been changing this year. For 3 straight days, I haven’t been searching…for anything. I simply pray about everything. I mean that literally. I most often say a little prayer and then start looking for the answer to that prayer. But then something happened last week that changed the way I think about prayer. For privacy, I won’t name names or speak about specifics. But a friend of mine texted me that they were experiencing some physical discomfort. Both of the issues they were experiencing were things I was familiar with because both run in my family. My first response was to pray a general prayer of hope over my friend. But then a little bit later, I felt compelled to pray more specifically. I thanked God for my friend, followed by thanking Him for answering the prayer I was about to pray. Then I told Him that if He were Willing, He would heal my friend. I didn’t ask God to get my friend through it. I simply said if You are Willing. This is a similar prayer of faith to a few examples in the ministry of Jesus and that is where my heart was drawing from when I spoke the prayer. Upon ending the prayer, I texted this friend that I had prayed over them. About 30 mins later, they responded. They told me that about 30 mins earlier, at the moment I sent my text, their symptoms had ceased after dealing with them for 2-3 hours. Praise the Lord 🙌

God called me to pray specifically and then He answered. I felt the Spirit directing me on how to pray for that specific need. God deserves all of the Glorify for those events. It wasn’t my prayer, or either my faith or theirs, that healed them. It was God being Willing. It was as though God knew this would be a teachable moment. To which I say, lessoned learned! I’m in awe of the Power of God. And I know I will see greater things, if He is Willing to show me. So, for about 3 days now, I’ve simply let go and let God direct my path and my plans. Nothing so miraculous has occurred in these 3 days. And I never want to expect God to answer so quickly. Some of what I’ve prayed about in these days will likely not receive answers beyond wait for months or even years. The point I’m wanting to make is that I’m listening for God’s voice to direct my prayers and I’m waiting on Him. I wish I could say it was easy. It is not! But I can say that it has brought me a new level of Peace. In fact, I haven’t been anxious about anything since Saturday. (This prayer process began Sunday…nothing happened Saturday to cause my anxiety of the day…it was business as usual…LOL)

Speaking of Saturday, I had a lovely video call with Chérie. I was at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the time. I hadn’t originally planned to be there that day as it was our regular time for a video chat. But I thought it would be fun for me to call her from Disney this time because she might be able to do that from Disneyland this Friday. So, it will be like we were both at Disney at the same time…just a week apart…LOL It brings a special extra magical meaning to the week. It is another shared experience we both have in our story. Although we have separate journeys, these merge points have special value along our paths. I think it may have been our longest call to date, actually. We talked about so many things. And she prayed over me. It was so wonderful. I wish I had a recording of that prayer so I could replay it whenever I need that encouragement again. But the memory of it will do just fine…hehehe

On Sunday, I was able to finally meet Tyrese for the first time!!! It was a sort of drive by hugging…LOL She, her kids, and her mother were on their way to Port Canaveral to board a cruise boat to the Bahamas. We met up at a gas station near the port. I think we spent maybe 3 minutes talking before they had to rush off. There was a traffic issue that delayed us both getting to the gas station. Otherwise we would have had more time. I technically added 2 hours of driving to my day just to meet her…hehehe But those 3 minutes of warm hugs and a quick chat were well worth it!

After that, I headed to Kissimmee to go to a housewarming (technically an apartment) for my friend Mack. He and his roommates moved there in January and we were finally able to celebrate it. It’s a really nice place and the pool has a lazy river…hehehe I think we spent an hour in the river…LOL I had to leave before we could have dinner because I live so far away. But the time I spent there was fun and I enjoyed meeting new people; although I may never see them again.

I love my friends and always want to be there for them. I struggle sometimes because we always have to plan well in advance to meet up. But I’m learning to be okay with that. I’ve been praying about it and the few friends I’ve talked to about my struggles are also praying. God is showing me how to deal with that. And He is filling the void in my heart when I start to feel lonely.

But, speaking of meeting friends! I’m finally putting my plan together to go to California. I’ll be meeting Chérie in person for the first time. I’m also hoping to meet up with a few of my foodie friends from Twitter. All of them leave relatively close to the same area. So I can visit one general area and meet up with people. Someday I hope to meet up with a few one-on-one at Disney as well. I’ve decided I don’t like the large meetups I typically have done at Disney World. So when I start to do meet up at Disneyland, I hope to limit it to one or a few people each time. I’m fine visiting Disneyland often to be able to meet different people each time. On one of my visits (November), the plan is to spend the Disneyland time with just Chérie. But our first meeting will be the first weekend of July as she begins her new year!!! Yay!!!

Yesterday was very low key. I originally planned to go to Disney World for the holiday. I dropped that idea because it was so hot over the weekend. I was fearing heat exhaustion and felt it best to remain home. It was relaxing and just what I needed. And it gave me more focus for my prayers. Today was back to work and Taco Tuesday!!! It may seem silly to some to celebrate something like tacos. But I’ll stay silly if that’s how people view it. It’s good to find something to celebrate…even if it is simple…like a taco…LOL