Life Update

Wow. It has been a minute. I'm no longer in school, no longer studying for my board exam, immersed in barista life and drinking way too many cups of iced coffee. I ended up passing the NCLEX and couldn't help but feel a bit baffled. I mean, I wanted to pass but this means I can start to apply for nursing jobs and I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about jumping right into healthcare. I don't feel a rush (well, I guess my student debt of 125k is a motivating factor) to jump into the next season - I sense strongly in my spirit that God has me right where he wants me and that when he ushers in the next season and opportunity, he will let me know. As of now, I'm working as a barista at Philz Coffee and I am absolutely loving it. I love making handcrafted drinks, recommending different blends to people who stumble in bleary-eyed and are oblivious to the fact that they're about to get a cup of damn fine coffee (excuse my language). I love my friendships at work and I love that I can represent Christ in this neck of the woods. I'm taking it one day at a time, and it feels nice.

Hmm. What else is new? A few weeks ago, something happened to me and I just felt so loved by the Lord. That weekend I got a piece of mail from Illinois Tollway saying that I had three unpaid toll tickets and owed like $64.00. That same Sunday, I went to church and as I was walking back to my car, noticed that dreaded orange envelope on my windshield. I had gotten another ticket for parking too far away from the curb*. What the heck? Do people go around with a ruler measuring these things? I was so annoyed and in that moment, decided in my head that I would contest the ticket. I started my car and backed up closer to the curb and then decided to take a picture. Obviously this is false evidence, even if in my opinion, I wasn't 12 inches from the curb. But I was mad, and felt very entitled. I drove back to my house, and ranted to my roommate about how annoyed I was, leaving out the tidbit that I had purposely moved my car closer to the curb and had taken a picture. She offered her condolences, and gave me a pat on the back.

The next day, I was working at BomboBar and texted my roommate if she could print off something at work. I sent her the picture that I took and she replied that she went ahead and printed it off. Now at this point, I felt the Lord speaking to me. "Grace... Grace. You know that's not right." But I kept grumbling, "Lord, I don't have money for all these tickets." An hour later, a man walked into the restaurant and something about him caught my eye. Within a matter of moments, we both found out we were Christians and loved the Lord. The man pulled out his wallet and said to me, "Grace, I feel like I have to do this. I don't normally carry around cash and if I had more, I would give you more. But here is $20.00 for you." In that moment, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Grace, I am the good provider and I see you. You don't have to take care of yourself - trust that I am with you." In that moment, I felt so loved and seen. God. God, how is that you know my anxieties, worries, doubts? How is that even when I sin, you gently scold me and then don't leave me empty-handed? You leave me with your love, and it's in that space that I find that I don't want to intentionally sin against you.

I ended up paying that ticket, but I did so with gratitude in my heart. I don't think I'll ever forget how the Lord met me in that moment and sent that random stranger to me. On a side note, that man and I talked for like 40 minutes. He told me how he had been raised as a Catholic, but met Jesus later in life and now was passionate about missions. I started crying in front of him, and he looked at me with a smile on his face and said, "Grace, the Holy Spirit told me to come in here and speak to you. This isn't a chance happenstance occurrence."


*In Chicago, you will get a ticket if you are a foot away from the curb
*In Chicago, you will also get a ticket if you park within 6 feet of a stop sign (this happened to me last month)

Do yourself a favor and listen to this song by Andrea Marie. And then go check out her stuff on Spotify.