HARD PLACES, MAKE SMOOTH LANDINGS

When I moved to North Carolina about 10yrs ago, I came with basically the shoes and clothes on my back; a sick baby whom had just got cleared by Doctors to be removed from her portable oxygen tank, on the brink of a divorce with a one way ticket of not ever returning from where I came from. North Carolina was the new start that I had been looking for, it was the start that I needed in order to save my life.

When I came I was living off of my daughters Social Security check – no job and relying on the system for help with food, medical expenses and so forth…..I was beginning to think if I had made the right moves, praying to God and going to church every Sunday was a hope, but was God really listening to me? Maybe I made a mistake, what about my daughter – She didn’t need an unstable mother and with her medical history I couldn’t afford to drag her from this place to that place. I had to stand still in the Hard Place that was so unbearable to stand….

Months without a job, I started taking some classes at the local college to re-vamp my computer skills; being out for a while with a sick daughter – you kind of lose your career mojo. Upon leaving the class I had applied for a job and got an interview, Thank God; things were about to look up…

I prayed and went to the job interview, a couple of days later – They called me and told me that I had gotten the job…November 1^st was my start date, I was excited and overjoyed because now I could provide for my daughter, the $383.00 a month that we were living off of – was not cutting it, PERIOD!

I was on that same job for 7½ years until I moved in to the position that I am in right now. Sometimes Life has a way of presenting HARD PLACES before we can experience a SMOOTH LANDING. All the Hard places in our life are not just for us to go through because we have nothing else to do, but they come to build endurance which make us stronger in the end. I truly believe that God allows us to go through hard places to prepare us for what’s to come, what’s coming won’t be as Hard or Heavy as what you went through but will be smooth, WHY? Because you endured the heavy stuff first, which put you in position to handle your landing.

The 7½ years I endured on that job was pure Hades and there were times when I wondered if the job was from the Lord or was I being punished for moving and if I could tell the truth about it, that SSI money that I was receiving sure looked good compared to the circumstances that I faced on a day to day basis going to work. Ever felt like the things you so earnestly prayed for was a mistake? We tend to complain when we are in Hard places because we either don’t understand why we’re there or complain because we know how we got there but looking for a quick escape to get out. I can’t tell you how many times I complained about that job or how many attempts I made to get out of the job by putting in applications to other job openings, because things according to my plans were just not moving along as quick as I wanted them too; in which, only led me into other places that made my process of wanting to be rid of that hard place just that much more longer to escape. I cried everyday going to work as if my tears were going to move my process along quicker, but it wasn’t in my tears that moved God……it was in that hard place that I learned to be content, accept what God had put in front of me and ride the storm; when I learned to do that, that’s when God moved on my behalf.

It was definitely God that took me through that period of time, I learned so much about myself and about others during that process, which has helped me in how to deal with different personalities that I encounter daily –  I also learned how to smile in the midst of adversity – which was the greatest lesson of all. That Hard place of that job led me right into the doors of my current job in which starting out I felt just like the Hard Place I had just got freed from, But God had a plan as everything I went through during the beginning phase of my current job for almost two years, put me into a leadership role that I would have never thought I would be doing today. So trust me when I say, all of your Hard Places are just stepping stones to the PLACE where you need to be. The processes and things you will learn or are learning now in your Hard Place is just getting you ready and preparing you for your smooth landing.

Be Patient & Learn from the Hard Places in your Life – there are lessons there and if they are learned well, not to say that your smooth place will not have a little turbulence, but because you gained knowledge & learned practical tools within your Hard Place, you can handle and iron out the turbulence that come your way withe ease and little effort.

Although I still face Hard Places even now (and will continue too because life is one big experience wheel), weather on my job or in my personal life – I take great comfort in knowing that everything I went through, everything I endured and everything that was disturbing in that Hard Place, was just preparing me for “Smooth Landings” ahead…I rejoice because I know that God has my best interest at heart and he promises not to put no more on us than we can bear, so therefore that Hard, Solid place was just a thorn to push me into the PURPOSE that God has already pre-planned to happen in my life.

So enjoy the ride – no matter how hard it may be for Weeping may endure but a night, But JOY comes in the morning (Psalms 30:5) Believe That!!