God and Faith Work in Mysterious Ways

Two years ago, I was still working at my original bank job.

Well, the second chapter of that, at least.

I worked at the Island branch for 4 ½ years

Before getting transferred to the main branch

Because the company was downsizing.

They didn’t need me at the smaller, quieter branch

But they needed to replace two people who quit

With just me.

That company had a rule.

The branch was open 9:00 to 1:00 on Saturday,

And every employee had to take turns working the Saturdays.

To make things a little easier,

Since the teams had been whittled down to a skeleton crew,

This main branch borrowed someone from the Island

Every other Saturday.

(The Island was closed, but “everyone had to do their part”).

This resulted in me working every-other Saturday as well.

Every Monday, this nice old lady would come in.

She was tall and thin with long white hair and glasses.

She was basically a textbook granny.

She was one of the volunteers for the Seventh Day Adventist church.

Seventh Day Adventists believe that the Sabbath should be Saturday.

In the bible, it took God six days to create the world

And one day to rest.

Sunday is actually the first day of the week,

And Saturday is the seventh.

So this church believed that everyone should take Saturday to rest.

If they were to follow the instructions in the bible,

They wouldn’t work.

Every Monday, she would pass me some literature

About Jesus or the gospel and invite me to her church.

And every Monday, I would tell her

“Well, I work on Saturdays. But if I’m ever able to stop,

I’ll let you know”.

One time I asked the supervisor at work

What would happen if I decided I wasn’t working Saturdays anymore.

In a matter of words, she said it wouldn’t end well for me.

It was my responsibility to the company to do my part.

Eventually, refusing to work weekends would result in disciplinary action.

And really, it was okay with me at the time.

I didn’t  enjoy having to get up early and losing half of my day, no...

But if I worked Saturday, it meant either I got half of a weekday off

(in the afternoon)

or I got to go home an hour early or come in an hour later

every day except Friday.

Sometimes, it did wear on me, however.

More than once, I found myself not wanting to get out of bed

On Saturday morning.

More than once, I had to say no to plans with friends

Who were free every weekend.

It would have been nice to have the whole weekend,

Every weekend,

But I couldn’t change the rules.

And then I lost my job.

I left to pursue another opportunity

That fell apart at the last minute.

Suddenly, at a time I was supposed to be celebrating

An exciting new job

I instead found myself scrambling to find something

Anything

To pay the bills.

Since banks can take two months to carry through

The interviewing and hiring process,

I needed something in the meantime.

I landed at Target.

And I stayed,

From August when I walked into the store to apply

And walked out with a job

Through the holidays

And into the New Year.

Retail is even less forgiving about availability

Than the banks.

You must be available on evenings.

You must be available on weekends.

And you must work all of the holidays.

That meant an erratic, difficult schedule

That some days concluded at 11pm

And others began at 7am.

I missed church.

I didn’t get to say “TGIF!”

I worked on Thanksgiving,

And I worked until 10pm on Christmas Eve.

The Seventh Day Adventist volunteer and her ideals

Of being able to rest on Saturday

Were a distant memory now.

And then, in February, I was able to move on

From Target to a jewelry store.

The schedule got easier

And I could usually go to church

But I still had to work Saturday.

The jewelry store, though better for me,

Was not the right fit.

It would prove to be merely a stepping stone.

I still needed a 9-5

Federal holidays off

Sundays free

I still needed a bank.

On April second,

The day after Easter,

I started my second bank job.

In other markets, like Tampa and

New Orleans, the bank was open Saturdays...

But in Jacksonville, where there are only two branches,

Saturday didn’t exist.

It had proven to be a waste of their time.

For the month of April,

While I was training at the bank,

I decided to stay at the jewelry store

On weekends.

I was still working.

And in April, the hours changed at the jewelry store

In compliance with the rest of the outlet mall.

I could not go to church anymore.

After nearly a month of never having a day off,

I broke down.

I was nearly 20 weeks pregnant,

And I was emotional and exhausted.

One Saturday morning,

I sat in my car, waiting for the store to open.

I was preparing to go in and work another long weekend.

I thought about how nice it would be to sleep in.

I also thought about the money,

And realized I wasn’t making that much more

For all of this effort.

I had tried a few times in my adult life

And failed at two jobs.

I was not meant to work seven days a week.

That day, I sat in my car

And wrote a letter of resignation.

After that weekend,

I didn’t return.

I was finally free to embrace

A nine to five.

It was May now.

Ten long months after I had lost the first bank job,

And my quiet inner dream

Of having my “Sabbath” finally came true.

But it didn’t happen the way that would have seemed logical.

Logically, I should have stayed at my original job

And found a way to get out of working Saturday, right?

Even if I could have done that,

There were other issues.

Supervisors weren’t kind.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get a REAL promotion.

I left seeking better treatment...

Only to get dropped face-down in retail.

I had to pass through that shadowy valley

Of an unknown future

To get to the promise on the other side.

It was one of those times when God chose to test my faith

Instead of just giving me the satisfaction I sought.

Now I just need to pay that church a visit.