Well--so it's the end of summer folks. And having been in school for most of my life, summer has always been synonymous with vacation, and relaxing--but let me tell you what, not this time.
This summer I feel as if I have been working like crazy and only now that school has started are things finally starting to settle down!
A little real talk here. The place I had been working this summer off and on for the last few years, was an awesome place, and I totally loved it. Physical Therapy (PT). It was really social, all my coworkers were hilarious young hooligans, and I felt fulfilled helping people recover from injuries. However, there was the small problem of they only paid minimum wage. And I now had a college degree and my own rent to pay--I needed to go look for something else.
I must have applied to around at least 30-40 positions, which is embarrassing to say. Some of them I interviewed for and actually got the job, but realized during the interview process that it wasn't for me. AKA sales. I know, I know, I should have known that already. In any case, it was a huge emotional roller coaster--so many times, a job would come up that seemed perfect, and I was basically promised it, only to be let down at the last minute because "HR had hired someone else" or they had narrowed it down between me and someone else and chosen the other person. Sigh. It was rough, especially since I was trying to squeeze all these interviews in while still working full time at PT.
At the same time, my amazing friend Jenn and I were working on submitting our applications to PA schools. Physician's Assistant. You wouldn't believe how hard this all was. We met every weekend at least for several hours since April to work on it and barely were able to submit it come August. This could totally have been a college course. You needed several letters from specific types of people, AKA medical professionals you had worked for, professors of science whose class you had aced, and a PA you had shadowed for a certain amount of hours. You needed essays, official transcripts sent, then transcripts entered manually into the computer--besides all the research you had to do on each school you applied to, to know if you were qualified, or if you could afford it, or whatnot.
It wasn't that any of it was undoable, it just was also very emotionally taxing on top of the job search and everything else. It's hard to weigh yourself so thoroughly and document your whole life up to this point for an application. Besides paying my entire paycheck from that summer on application fees.
But through it all, I saw a lot of blessings. First, I realized, that if I had gotten another job right away, I wouldn't have been working for the medical professionals I needed to give me letters to PA school. And one of the new therapists personally knew the Dean of my first choice school--had gone to Africa with him the summer before just for fun-- and wrote him to say I would be a fantastic student and he should definitely admit me. So what seemed to me at first to be a super unfortunate thing, that I couldn't get a job elsewhere, turned out to be a very big blessing. The Lord knows better than we do, that's for sure.
And then, a few weeks ago I was sitting thinking about my job predicament, when I realized, I hadn't paid my tithing all summer. I had been saving up for application fees of course, but that shouldn't have been my first concern. So I went right then and wrote out a check to tithing--knowing temporal blessings often come to those that are faithful with their tithing.
Two days later, an employer that had interviewed me, and then hired someone else, called me around 7am and said,
"Hey, are you still looking for a job?" Yes, yes I was. He then told me they had hired another girl, but it hadn't worked out--she had more experience than me, but they didn't like her. She was mean, and difficult to work with. I on the other hand, had no experience in their field, but I was nice enough, and bright enough it was worth it to train me.
Hollaa!!! I loved everything about this job! It really was the best of all the jobs I applied to, and to have him say he felt as if he should call me back when they let that other girl go--I knew that wasn't an accident. Tiiiithiiiing. Of course, this is where things really started to turn around. I finished my PA school applications, gave my two weeks notice at PT, and furthermore, I got another thing in line as well.
During my last week at PT I was working with a patient and started humming, and she turns to me all excited, and was like, "You are a really good singer, aren't you?" I looked at her in surprise, and said, "Well--I used to sing quite a bit." She nodded her head and said, "I could tell your voice was trained, just by the way you were humming." She told me then she was a voice teacher, and I proceeded to tell her how last summer I had studied with an opera teacher in Vienna who had taught me amazing things, and she was like, "I want to meet with you and hear what she taught you. You want to get back into it, don't you?"
And here's the thing--I did. I reeeeally did!! I was suddenly thirsty again for singing, so I called up my old voice teacher from High School, probably the finest singer in this half of the US, if not the whole US, and got signed up for lessons again. I mean, why not? Soon I would be making much better money to pay for them. And that has been a huge blessing to me as well. I am always conflicted about my scientific pursuits--because I have been raised on so much music, that I know I would love to do that too. This life isn't long enough for me to do everything I want to do.
I just want to say, trust in the Lord thy God. I've seen his hand many times this summer, and have felt his love. And furthermore, it isn't weakness to see the small miracles in life. That actually is where you can see the most power manifest. After all, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.
After a long hard summer, I'm hoping things will calm down--now that I have some important things sorted out. The most important of which, is knowing that God cares. He's looking out for us. If none of these life changes stick, and in a year from now my life is completely different, I will still know that God was there.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
But the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
This summer I feel as if I have been working like crazy and only now that school has started are things finally starting to settle down!
A little real talk here. The place I had been working this summer off and on for the last few years, was an awesome place, and I totally loved it. Physical Therapy (PT). It was really social, all my coworkers were hilarious young hooligans, and I felt fulfilled helping people recover from injuries. However, there was the small problem of they only paid minimum wage. And I now had a college degree and my own rent to pay--I needed to go look for something else.
I must have applied to around at least 30-40 positions, which is embarrassing to say. Some of them I interviewed for and actually got the job, but realized during the interview process that it wasn't for me. AKA sales. I know, I know, I should have known that already. In any case, it was a huge emotional roller coaster--so many times, a job would come up that seemed perfect, and I was basically promised it, only to be let down at the last minute because "HR had hired someone else" or they had narrowed it down between me and someone else and chosen the other person. Sigh. It was rough, especially since I was trying to squeeze all these interviews in while still working full time at PT.
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| Krissy Owens was my angel and helped me make my resume look so sleek!! This is one of our head shots |
It wasn't that any of it was undoable, it just was also very emotionally taxing on top of the job search and everything else. It's hard to weigh yourself so thoroughly and document your whole life up to this point for an application. Besides paying my entire paycheck from that summer on application fees.
But through it all, I saw a lot of blessings. First, I realized, that if I had gotten another job right away, I wouldn't have been working for the medical professionals I needed to give me letters to PA school. And one of the new therapists personally knew the Dean of my first choice school--had gone to Africa with him the summer before just for fun-- and wrote him to say I would be a fantastic student and he should definitely admit me. So what seemed to me at first to be a super unfortunate thing, that I couldn't get a job elsewhere, turned out to be a very big blessing. The Lord knows better than we do, that's for sure.
And then, a few weeks ago I was sitting thinking about my job predicament, when I realized, I hadn't paid my tithing all summer. I had been saving up for application fees of course, but that shouldn't have been my first concern. So I went right then and wrote out a check to tithing--knowing temporal blessings often come to those that are faithful with their tithing.
Two days later, an employer that had interviewed me, and then hired someone else, called me around 7am and said,
"Hey, are you still looking for a job?" Yes, yes I was. He then told me they had hired another girl, but it hadn't worked out--she had more experience than me, but they didn't like her. She was mean, and difficult to work with. I on the other hand, had no experience in their field, but I was nice enough, and bright enough it was worth it to train me.
Hollaa!!! I loved everything about this job! It really was the best of all the jobs I applied to, and to have him say he felt as if he should call me back when they let that other girl go--I knew that wasn't an accident. Tiiiithiiiing. Of course, this is where things really started to turn around. I finished my PA school applications, gave my two weeks notice at PT, and furthermore, I got another thing in line as well.
During my last week at PT I was working with a patient and started humming, and she turns to me all excited, and was like, "You are a really good singer, aren't you?" I looked at her in surprise, and said, "Well--I used to sing quite a bit." She nodded her head and said, "I could tell your voice was trained, just by the way you were humming." She told me then she was a voice teacher, and I proceeded to tell her how last summer I had studied with an opera teacher in Vienna who had taught me amazing things, and she was like, "I want to meet with you and hear what she taught you. You want to get back into it, don't you?"
And here's the thing--I did. I reeeeally did!! I was suddenly thirsty again for singing, so I called up my old voice teacher from High School, probably the finest singer in this half of the US, if not the whole US, and got signed up for lessons again. I mean, why not? Soon I would be making much better money to pay for them. And that has been a huge blessing to me as well. I am always conflicted about my scientific pursuits--because I have been raised on so much music, that I know I would love to do that too. This life isn't long enough for me to do everything I want to do.
I just want to say, trust in the Lord thy God. I've seen his hand many times this summer, and have felt his love. And furthermore, it isn't weakness to see the small miracles in life. That actually is where you can see the most power manifest. After all, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.
After a long hard summer, I'm hoping things will calm down--now that I have some important things sorted out. The most important of which, is knowing that God cares. He's looking out for us. If none of these life changes stick, and in a year from now my life is completely different, I will still know that God was there.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
But the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
