The first sentence that struck me from Sarah Young’s book was “ask My Spirit to control your mind so you can think great thoughts of Me.” I didn’t have to try and control my thoughts, I could ask for help. When my mind wanted to travel down this dark, unknown path I could choose to think of all the great things about my Daddy instead. He is real and true, this imaginary path was not. “The more extreme our circumstances, the more likely you are to see My Power and Glory at work in the situation.” This sentence encouraged me because my circumstances felt more extreme right now.
Many people have different “extreme” circumstances happen in their lives. It is not right that anyone should compare their circumstances to another's because the circumstance is happening for that person at that moment and for them it may be very extreme. Who’s to say that in 5 years there won’t be another circumstance that is even more difficult than the current one, but God promises that His grace is sufficient for whatever circumstance we are in. I do not have the grace right now to go through Billy’s issue, but He has given me the grace to go through mine no matter how difficult it seems at times.
Years ago I was a waitress at Red Robin. My husband had a sales job and we needed more money. I had just weaned my youngest and I offered to get a job. I declared the only job that would work for me was a waitress job. I ventured out to place my applications. Two hours later I was hired at Red Robin. I worked at Red Robin for a total of 3 ½ years. At the beginning I enjoyed the time with other adults. It was a drastic change from my 4 years of being home with my young daughters. I also enjoyed being in the world. That’s what the religious people called being around non-believers. It was the most secular place I’d ever worked and I enjoyed it. I grew dramatically in that 3 ½ years. I became more outgoing, I became more confident, I realized I was good at many things, I was respected by others, I had fun, and I relaxed. For 3 ½ years I served people. I served them their drinks, I served them their food, I served them whatever they needed and wanted. I served the happy, I served the grumpy, I served the laid back, I served the stoic, and I served with a smile no matter what.
Many times people tipped graciously. Many times people tipped stingily. In the state of Idaho in 2005 a server at a restaurant made $3.35 an hour. The state of Idaho takes a large portion of that so a server’s wage is tips. There were nights when I worked for more than 5 hours and made $20. There were nights when I made over $100 working the same amount of time. It may average out ok at the end of the month, but if I have to pay a $60 power bill tomorrow and I make $20 today, it doesn’t matter what I make tomorrow.
The most difficult thing about being a server is giving every person the best service I can and then getting stiffed on the tip. I knew they didn’t know what I got paid, but it was still difficult. I had the grace to do that job for 3 ½ years. At the end of the time I began hating that job. I hated how people treated me, I hated working for nothing. I was telling a friend and she said “You don’t have the grace for it anymore.” What she said made perfect sense. I had the ability to put up with it all those years, but now it wasn’t time for me to put up with it anymore. It was time for me to more on. A month later I had a teaching job.
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