This proves you never quite know where you’ll be in just one year

Cody and I and our carved pumpkin - Carved on Nov. 2 (or some other date after Halloween).

I started this blog some time ago and figured it was about time to finish it. Here is the original beginning….

I got off work a little early this afternoon went home, did a bit of power yoga and then sat down behind my computer to read a few old blogs. I started with ones I had written about the same time last year and then went a little further back. This post is all about my sense of uncertainty in regards to the future and my sure determination to find great professional success. Thank you cards and rent cheques is all about the mass amount of excitement I felt as I prepared to leave my home province of Ontario.

While most of these posts made me smile and think fondly of all the great people I met along my way to Grimshaw, I can’t help but think that everything I thought God was gearing me up for was wrong. God didn’t send me to Grimshaw to get the experience I needed to one day work at the Globe & Mail. He didn’t even send me to Grimshaw to gain the experience I needed to return to live in beautiful Sarnia, as I had once thought.

And this is the new part….

God brought me to Grimshaw, away from everything, just so that I could find Him. Since graduating from High School I went on a bit of downward spiral spiritually. Of course I still believed and never did I ever think about turning away from God, but I wasn’t filled with the spirit and often made decisions based on my own wisdom, instead of first consulting Him. Even now when I face one of the day’s problem Cody always asks me if I’ve prayed about it. Sometimes this question irks me because, well, I haven’t prayed about it (and the fact that I feel irked is indicative of something else I’ll discuss a little further down). But I know that spiritual accountability is one of the reasons God has me in Grimshaw and subsequently, Cody in my life.

Now that I’m in Grimshaw a small part of me still wants to achieve a type of career where my name is recognized among journalism students, or in the very least a piece I wrote about. A friend told me she accepted a new job the other day. A definite step up from where she had been, and that made me a little jealous. Yet, I know that what I have here in Grimshaw and at the Mile Zero News is exactly right for me (and with an upcoming staff meeting regarding a website and colour printing, hopefully the newspaper will be well on it’s way to catching up with the rest of the media world!)

Besides, God brought me to Grimshaw to show me that life isn’t all about work. Life is about relationships.

In the last year and a half I’ve gone from being career driven, to relationship driven. I used to not care whether the people of Grimshaw knew who I was, and while a certain degree of anonymity is a good thing, especially when someone doesn’t like what I’ve written (I can’t write good news all the time!), having people know who I am, know who I’m dating and know where I attend church is a good thing.

Further to all of this, God is working a number on my heart. I know I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and use the gift of the spirit that God has given me – even if I’m not totally sure what that is. I’m being stretched in all directions. Sometimes I can recognize the work of the Spirit when I feel it, other times I’m stubborn and rebel against it (Or just feel irked…). Then, about two days later, I know the silly temper tantrum I threw with God (and any other poor person who happened to step in my path) was childish, and I can see the work He is trying to accomplish in my life.

It’s funny where God can lead a person in just one year. Away from everything that is familiar, away from everything that is entertainment (and distraction), and into something completely new and completely life changing. All I can say is that when I return to Ontario (and I will return, it just might not be as soon as my family hopes it will be), I’ll be a person of integrity and spirit-filled. I’ll be ready for whatever God has for me, the people, the situations, the employment.

I’ve never known the meaning of “busy”

…until now.

In October I began working at the Mile Zero Regional Multiplex in Grimshaw as a second job and while I had all kinds of time during the summer to kill, the fall has been an entirely different story.

This week alone is going to be nuts, I’m not going to be home before 9 p.m. any night this week because I’m either working at the multiplex or attending a function for the newspaper. My editor has taken these next two weeks off so I’ll be manning the paper on my own. But it won’t end there. When my editor gets back he will be working in Manning until the company hires another reporter (the Manning reporter is no longer working for us as of Nov. 25).

You should see my day planner. Between highlighted multiplex shifts, circled church events and red, blue and black newspaper appointments every page is full and a mess to look at. My roommate and I have barely said two words to each other in a month because our schedules just don’t match up and we’re both out of the house and working for about 12 hours a day.

Now, with all that being said, I’m not sure I’m complaining. Last winter I was so bored and a little sad when the days got super short and we were living in darkness for most of the day. Now, there is very little time for boredom and I hardly notice the dark while working inside the brightly lit multiplex.

Cody says he misses me, but I think he means he just misses me cooking. Over the weekend and for a bit of last week I was finally able to find time to make dinner a couple of times and he’s been enjoying the left overs. Don’t go and assume that Cody can’t cook – he just doesn’t cook like I do (AKA he eats a lot of tuna when I’m not around).

But now that my editor is on vacation, these next two weeks are looking a little crazy. Here’s to hoping I find some time to sleep and eat!