Preparation is Two Parts God

I heard a lady from our church speak recently about how she had a hard time with foreign languages. She had to drop out of Spanish in high school. But to graduate from college, she had to take one course. She opted for American sign language instead and ended up changing her major to deaf education. Many years down the road, she had two sons with hearing impairments. Because of her dislike of foreign languages, God had prepared her ahead of time to provide for her sons.

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So I was a really good student. The kind that asked for homework in 1st grade. The kind that would cry if I ever came home with a B (I'm still mad at you, Mrs. Ingram, for 5th grade math!). So when it came time for career day at school and we were asked to draw a picture of what we would like to be when we grew up, I'm sure my parents and teachers were a little disappointed when I drew a picture of a waitress and a cashier at Meijer. I ended up going into advertising, but whenever I was between jobs, I'd do a stint in waitressing.

Now a few years down the road, I find myself stopping at a deli for lunch, and end up maneuvering through a busy lunch crowd with a 15-lb. baby, a 12 lb. car seat, a diaper bag, a purse, a tray of food, a drink, and (of course) some gelato in my hands. And it was all possible due to the 3-glass-in-1-hand hold I had to learn from waitressing. Now I know that's a little more trivial than being able to communicate with your children, but that mint stratiatella ice cream really made my day.

Moral of the story: You never know how God can use a seemingly meaningless thing from your past for good in the future.