Little Leaps of Faith

In my belief and experience as a college student, paying your way through college isn't easy, but thankfully God provided a job to pay the bills! Although I am not a social butterfly always eager to talk to people or meet new people, or even being a customer service agent, I don't think manual labor is the easiest job in the world either.

While working at a print shop, the first week was a full loaded week with long hours of overtime (don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the extra pay) but it didn't take long for my back to begin suffering daily pain from all the back and forth bending and standing on my feet for 10 hours a day.

Day after day I would go into work praying, "Lord, my back is not in shape to be working with those big machines. If you know I won't be able to handle it, please have my supervisor send me to assembly!" (one of the easier, but nothing shorter from boring than my previous position). I walked up to my supervisor waiting for him to tell me to go work with that big machine again. As he looks up at me from his clipboard he mouths the words, "You can go to assembly!" All I could think in my head as I nodded and made my way to the assembly was "Thank you, Lord!"

This usually became a daily prayer routine for me. Although I tried everything I could after work to give my back some relief (including hot showers, sleeping with a heating bad on my back, using lavender oil to help me sleep at night, and a friend giving me short daily back massages) the back, foot, and muscle pain always came back after a full 10 hour day of hard manual labor work.

After coming back from a week vacation and working another week at the print shop, I was able to visit my chiropractor in town. To be completely honest, I was nervous and relieved when he told me that although my back was not in a terrible condition, that if I continued working the long hours I had at the print shop that he would not like the condition my back would be headed in. As I told him about the work areas that I was being placed in depending on the use of the machines, he decided to give me a note to give to my supervisor requesting to let me continue working in assembly for the majority of the summer that I would be working at the print shop. This made me very happy knowing that my chiropractor would be happy to know I would be working in an area that would be easier on my back, and it would be a happier experience, less back strain for the majority of the summer.

As I walked into work the next week, I handed my doctor's note to the supervisor. My supervisor carefully looked over the note and told me that would be fine. I looked back at him and asked if I needed to show the note to the other supervisor and he kindly told me he would send it to the front office and let the other supervisor know. As I thanked him and headed to the assembly area and started walking around a table colating cards and papers, I once again took a moment to thank God for allowing me to be in an easier work area for my back.

Even though I did not have a nice desk job that most people wish they could have, I still thank God for the ability to work hard with my hands and body in manual labor jobs. There are many people in the world that do not have that capability and wish they did. I also thanked God for the benefit of working overtime, even though it was mandatory. It was extra money I was earning that would help pay for my flight back home for Christmas!

As I look back on the days that my supervisor would send me back to the assembly area and the day I gave my supervisor the doctor's note, I can't help but think that it truly is the little things that become our greatest blessings in life! Unfortunately, sometimes we take these blessings for granted on a daily basis. I am grateful for the job I have and the extra money I get to earn this summer. In my experience, don't take His blessings for granted!