These are the word of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It's an interesting thought, but the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. I have often made the comment to family and friends who claim that they know me that no one knows me better than myself. I am wrong when I make that statement, and thank GOD I am wrong as well!
About a mouth ago, my manager left Coldstone. She and I had gotten off to a rocky start, but by the time she left, I dearly loved her and hated to see her go. Because she was leaving, I was determined to leave too. Without her, the reasons for me staying at coldstone as an AM (assistant manger) didn't seem to hold up. I was tired of the responsibility, and the main reason I had taken certain responsibilities was to try and help out Gina. Many of our crew were leaving around this time too, and scheduling (which is something I do) was about to get really difficult. I didn't want the 'leadership' role anymore. I didn't want the stress. All I wanted to do was to go to work, have somebody tell me what to do, and do it. I had found out that being in such a leadership position was a lot of work.
I was nearly ready to put my two weeks in when my manager advised me not to. She told me to stick it out. My dad and mom also told me that quitting at a time when my emotions where high was not such a good idea. "Leave when you are content," My dad said "You will regret if you quit during a time when you WANT to quit because of stress". The advise I got, along with other reasons, kept me at Coldstone. I planned to stick it out till the end of Oct.
We ended up hiring a ton of people, and those people needed to be trained. I have, and am, spending a lot of time getting to know our new employees and helping them learn the ropes of a Scooper. :-)
Now, let me take a break for a moment, and fill you in on an important account in my life that happened during the same time I was considering quitting CS.
A couple weeks before all of this started to happen, my leader from a mission trip to France I made earlier this year, came down to a church in indianola to speak about missions. Several other missionaries were there as well sharing about their experiences in the mission field. I of course went for the sole purpose of seeing Rick (my leader). The other missionaries were just a bonus. But God wanted me to be there for reasons OTHER than Rick. See, one of the missionaries got up and was talking about reaching out to people. He spoke on how many people were lost, and how few people there were who were going out to reach these people. He quoted Matthew 9:37 which states: "The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" He then went on to say how he and his team had each set their watch's alarms to 9:37, and every time their alarm would go off, they would all pray the prayer our Lord instructed us to pray in Matthew 9:37. I thought this was so cool, I set my alarm right then and there, and it has become my prayer from then on every morning at 9:37.
Back to CS now. Because of of all the training I had to do with these new people, I was spending a lot of time around them. And it still puts a smile on my face when I think of how many people I've been able to share the gospel with and take to about the wonderful news of Jesus Christ. In my year and a half of working at Coldstone, I have never seen so many people interested in what I had to say about Christianity, and so willing to listen. Had I quit coldstone, had I taken the easy road, had I abandoned the responsibility that God had laid before me, I would never had had the chance to share with these people. I would have lost the chance to grow. I would have not seen so clearly how God answered, and is answering my prayer I pray every 9:37am. I thought I had known what was best for me. But I didn't; God did.
We have a shepherd. One who loves us, cares for us, and will guide us even when we think we are lost. He will lead us to places we don't want to go. He will teach us things we may not want to learn. He will allow us to suffer when we see no reason why we should. And he will save us when we don't think we need saving. And God, in his goodness will often give us a glimpse of his will and his purpose to encourage us like nothing else can. Praise be to our Lord and Saviour! Amen!
Proverbs 3:5-6--"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
