It is incredible to me that when doors seem to be closing, others open. My hours were drastically cut at my job. I used to work several areas during the week and it seemed to me that I would never be for want of hours. Suddenly I am scheduled sales floor and cashiering only and my hours are cut down to twelve and a half per week. Just when I thought I might have to start digging into the old savings and possibly looking for a new job, other opportunities pop up and boy do they pay off. A sheet showed up on the bulletin at work asking for volunteers to work overnight stocking shelves just a few nights for a week. I signed up for Wednesday and worked my regular shift from 5:30 PM to 11 PM and stayed working overnight from 11 PM to 7 AM, earning an extra dollar fifty an hour.

I worked hard. Extremely hard. Overnight flow team at Target is no easy job. It is hard, strenuous physical labor. I gained a large amount of respect for the people I like to term "creatures of the night". I like to think I have it rough working days doing what I do, that dealing with guest with stupid questions is a difficulty of unforseen anguish. Working from 10:30 to 7 stocking shelves is hard, sweaty work.

God wants us to work hard. It is so easy to slack off and think, "Oh, if they paid me what I am worth, then I would work hard." But guess what! Joseph (you know, the one with the rainbow coat) was a slave in Egypt. He was unpaid for his work. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers. But Joseph worked hard for no pay. By working hard, Joseph one day found himself in charge of the Egyptian empire because of his hard work and wisdom. So, maybe if we work hard enough that our bosses can trust us to do our jobs, then God will trust us enough to hand over larger things to us. Maybe we won't get the Egyptian empire, but hey, God is good. who knows what He will provide.

Now, the overnight bosses keep begging me to stay overnight. I doubt there is anyone who can argue that when your boss likes you it's a bad thing.

I just posted this Job Kernl widget for 500 credits. You can earn free credits too!

Just so everyone knows, my best friends are THE BEST! I mean, they live with me, and tolerate me, they have to be, right?
My friend Jen and I do a bible study every Wednesday night together without fail, unless she goes on vacation with her family or the apocalypse comes. We studied Galatians and now we are working on a study on apologetics, which is really cool and totally makes more sense than these scientific weirdos claim it does. (Pffft... evolution... I tell you if evolution happened it began with God...)
So anyway, today, in seven minutes to be exact, I have an exam which I think will be really hard. I don't think I will do well. I haven't payed as much attention in class as I should have, and I think that studying is probably a lost cause now. Jen decided that, since we have both been stressed out we will go somewhere she has planned (it's a surprise) and she says we will love it ( I trust her on this) and just hang out and not study for today. Yay! I am so excited!
The thing is, these friends, like Jen, who I have within fellowship are soooo much more awesome than any friends I had on the outside. (haha! I make Christianity sound like a prison... I mean, it is if prison were filled with awesome people who love you and the walls were made of grace and love and satisfaction....LOL) I have known these girls I live with for only oh.... nine months. I have only lived with them for four. They are my best friends. They do more for me than worldly people ever seemed to be able to. My 21st birthday the girls baked me a cake and took me out bar-hopping. I had known them then for barely two months. My worldly friends were only good enough (some of them) to send me a Happy Birthday post on Facebook... These girls totally opened their hearts to me and welcomed me in.
God gives believers the best relationships. My relationships are fulfilling. They are loving. They exceed description in depth and relevance. Before I got involved in this home church, I didn't know what a good relationship was. I didn't even know really how to make friends. I always tended to make one close friend and hang with them. But that one friend often flakes out and then you are left alone. Luckily, that one friend was my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years, David, and has been since I met him. These relationships I have with these girls effects eternity. In heaven, we will still be friends and work on things together, and praise God together.
Damn... I am so lucky to have this kind of fulfilling relationship!