This morning I met my designer friend and her team at the women's Crisis Center for South Suburbia. When I heard she was doing a re-design for a couple of rooms, I asked her if I could get involved too! I love using the gifts that God gave me to serve others. I find great joy in painting and I am very thankful that God revealed this to me at such a young age! However there is something very special about using the gifts you have from God to improve someone else's situation.
It's so interesting how listening to and following his plan makes our lives so much more meaning ful and fulfilling. My plan when I graduated from high school was to spend 4 years in college and come home with a degree that would land me some sort of career that I would then do for the rest my life... now when I look at that path it makes me want to GAG! After 2 years at Northwood University, things started to change (lots of bad things kept happening and I felt like I was under a black cloud) and I had to pray and listen. I then knew that my time was there was finished. It was a tough change and sad to leave some of the best friends I had ever made!
That summer I did my internship at my Dad's shop so I could at least get my Associates. My plan at that time was to transfer to another college to finish the Bachelors and move on to the dreadded office job... GAG! That summer a friend of the family heard about United doing a cattle call.. my mom really wanted me to go and I really didn't! So I went on the interview for her... whaddya know sometimes mom's know you better than you think they do!
Anyway, at that time, my internship was finished so I started helping my Aunt with her decorative painting business part time, I was 20 at the time and had never held any sort of paint brush other than the little crafty ones. When I started the job with United, I continued to help her about 3 days a week... with my seniority, most of my flight schedule was on the weekends so I had plenty of time to keep up with the painting!
I would never have dreamed that I whould find 2 things that I loved doing as much as I did Flying and Painting! What a true blessing... and I have to be thankful to my parents too for their understanding and COMPLETE support! They were more interested in me trying several avenues until I found what fit rather than taking certain steps to reach certain goals which is what is expected of someone of a certain age... again GAG! We're all different for a reason! Enjoying what you do and serving others is so much more important and fulfilling than fancy job titles...
Anyways... I don't know why I started on the life-story tangent... but the botton line is: Listening to God led me down a path where I found EVERYTHING I have that brings joy to my life today!
1. Mike! all of those curves in the road led me to the most wonderful and supportive husband in the world!
2. Painting.... it's my passion!
3. All of the unique traveling experiences I had with United!
4. The friends I have met [and kept] around every turn.
5. Most importantly all of these really great things led me to see God's amazing love and with diligence and God's wisdom a better understanding of how magnificent it is that he sent us Jesus! I want to know more.
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