Well, I've reached the end of my lemonade series. I want to road map a few things since this has literally taken me a year to write. As I started to reflect on all that God has done for me, how He has provided and How perfect His timing is, I had no idea how much I would enjoy walking down the path that I've already walked. The first time I walked down it, it was riddled with sour lemons and bitter moments. Timing was off. Circumstances were out of my control. Pain happened. Tears abounded. Frustration and confusion were felt. But God was so good to me and what He had in store was better than I could have ever imagined. Among the tart lemons was the water and sugar to make the sweetest lemonade...let's walk quickly down the path again, shall we?
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My journey started with a computer error that lost me $4,000 a year and $20,000 overall and almost kept me from attending college. Lemon. Big, fat, sour lemon.
In lieu of the scholarship, Baylor offered me a few loans, one interest-free, and some very wonderful people in my church blessed me with some cash to get through my first year. God provided...not in the way I wanted, but in His perfect way.
Because I lost the scholarship, and because I didn't want to start out my professional life with a mountain of debt, I decided to try Air Force ROTC. At first, it was a selfish motive to get scholarship money, but my desire to serve in the military trumped the money piece and I stuck with it. God was working in my heart. If I hadn't lost the scholarship, I wouldn't have joined ROTC in the first place. Blessing in disguise!
I was quickly informed that the military didn't need music majors and that if I wanted a scholarship I needed to change my major to engineering to be competitive. I decided that since I had changed my mind about the whole money piece, that I would stick with my major and serve in the military. My sophomore year, I was called into the detachment commander's office and was offered the Commander's Choice Leadership Scholarship - a scholarship offered to one cadet and chosen by the commander. God's amazing provision. The scholarship was worth $15,000 a year, plus a monthly stipend and book subsidy. Kinda a lot more than the $4,000 a year scholarship I lost.
I graduated Baylor and was commissioned into the United States Air Force May 18, 2002. I left Baylor with $10,500 in debt - the same amount I had when I finished my sophomore year (and my degree required five years of schooling). I was drinkin' the lemonade now! I'm still in awe at how it all worked out. God is beyond good!
My job was Air Battle Manager and my first base assignment was at Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida. Craig was the commander of the U.S. Army dive unit at a U.S. Navy base about 30 minutes away from Tyndall. I met him at church and watched him get baptized. He was finishing up his last assignment before separating and we were only in the same city for two and a half months. This is where the path to lemonade gets very sweet. Had I not lost the music scholarship due to a stupid computer error, I wouldn't have ever joined ROTC, I wouldn't have ever joined the military, and I wouldn't have ever met my husband.
Not long into my training assignment at Tyndall, I was medically disqualified from flying due to a degenerative eye condition that would eventually leave me blind. Lemon. Shock. Disappointment. Confusion. But God knew what He was doing...
I was given two days to decide my next career in the military, I chose public affairs. My assignment at at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. My brother was studying at the University of Oklahoma and was literally down the street from me. I loved pubic affairs and got busy working on my master's degree. I'd played the scholarship game in college and FREE education courtesy of Uncle Sam sounded like a great plan to me. Making some lemonade here. Some God-guided lemonade.
Because I was in a career field that was grossly overmanned, I talked to my functional manager to get guidance on what my next career move should be. Since I was actually filling a lieutenant slot in my current role and there was no way he could put me in an actual public affairs role in my next assignment, he guided me to career broaden and temporarily leave public affairs and go into another career field for a few years. Not long after, I got a call from Baylor's Air Force ROTC detachment asking if I was interested in teaching ROTC. Wow! Things were falling into place like I could not believe! I had just finished my master's degree, a requirement to teach at the ROTC level, and I was going back to my alma mater to teach! Hello Texas!
I loved teaching at Baylor. Loved it. I was ranked very well and doing great things. Not two months into my assignment, the Department of Defense dropped an announcement that the air force would be cutting overmanned lieutenant career fields. My public affairs career field was going to be cut 73%. Lemon. I later found out that lieutenants were not supposed to be allowed to PCS from their assignments because it would be difficult to rank lieutenants if they were new to a unit. I had been allowed to PCS and was encouraged to do so. Lemon. I wasn't in my public affairs career field anymore, I was in Waco, Texas, with the nearest base three hours away and the commander who was going to rank me Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Lemon. Lemon. Lemon. And the writing was on the wall...
Things started to look up! Craig was going to move to Waxahachie, Texas for six months for a rotational job with his company. He was going to be less than an hour and a half away! Woo-hoo! I needed a break from the lemons!!!
As suspected, I was not selected to be retained in the military. While it wasn't a surprise, it was still heartbreaking and the information dropped just a few days shy of me pinning on captain. And as an aside, a friend informed me several months ago that the air force is now short of 2002 graduates in...you guessed it, public affairs. At first, I was upset about finding this out, but then I realized I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't been handed this lemon. I loved serving in the military. It didn't seem like a job. I was good at it, ranked well, but it just wasn't in the cards. Lemons!
Shortly after, Craig moved back to Atlanta. Boo!
I began the job hunt. Because of my contacts at Baylor, I got some Baylor interviews and eventually was offered a job! YAY! I was only unemployed for a few months (and about two weeks before my unemployment checks would run out...). It was a drastic pay cut, but I was thrilled to have a job!
A few days after accepting my job at Baylor...Craig popped the question and we became engaged! FINALLY, CRAIG! <3 you!
It's not that often that you can go from one job that you love to another that you love. The Baylor job was pretty decent and the people I worked with were pretty decent, too! I was also able to fully pay off my student loans prior to getting married. Just another example of God's provision. I will never forget the feeling of not knowing how I was going to pay for school and I fully paid my loans off in less than five years after graduation.
I worked my tail off for my office, but I got married six months after starting the role and I had to quit and move to Georgia. And to clarify, I don't consider this a lemon at all. I'd follow my husband anywhere. Where he is, is where my home is.
About six months into our marriage, Baylor sought me out and offered me a job to work remotely from Atlanta. I work from home and while child care has been unique, I wouldn't change this situation for the world. What a blessing it is to be able to work from home!
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This path started with a computer error. That one click, or lack thereof, started me down a path to marriage and family and career. The computer error gave me the desire to do something I know I wouldn't have thought of if I had the music scholarship. Joining ROTC gave me a commission into the U.S. Air Force, which led me to Craig. My short career in the military took me a few places, I was able to earn a master's degree and only have to pay for books, and it brought me to Baylor. While the Baylor move was detrimental to my idea of a military career, it became the catalyst to my current role, which allows me to work from home and be with Madeline. Everything hinged on that computer error. I was 18 at the time, didn't understand, and could only see the immediate future in front of me. While there was a lot of heartache along the way and tremendous lack of understanding - when I was medically disqualified from my first job in the military, to being selected into a career field that led to my military demise - God was there handing out the lemons. But when God hands out lemons, He also provides the sugar and water to make the most perfect glass of lemonade you have ever drunk. I'm drinking it right now and it's the best thing ever.
While this path is written, I can't help but think of what lemons I'm being handed now that will shape my future. If this path has taught me anything, it's that God's timing, while sometimes perceived as a long time, is always perfect. He was always there for me, in times when I had faith and in times when I didn't. He knows what He's doing.
And He's standing by with the sugar and water.
1 comment:
Amen. :)
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