This week has been one of surprises and just when I thought that I had hit the maximum number of surprises that I can process, the Lord kept piling more on me. And, well, I guess it's left me feeling a bit stunned. To provide a bit of context, last week when I was out with COVID, I received an unexpected text from Shayna inquiring about my housing situation. In the text, she briefly mentioned that she was thinking about getting a roommate, and that I had been on her mind. I finally ended up going over to her place a few days ago on Tuesday - prior to driving over I hopped on a phone call with my spiritual mentor, Teretha. I expressed the heaviness of uncertainty that I was still carrying regarding my housing situation and in that phone call, Teretha just redirected me to trust the Lord and worship him whenever I found doubts creeping in. And we did just that - Teretha and I worshipped the Lord during that call and asked the Lord to replace my fear with certainty of his character and his provision. Shortly after finishing the call with Teretha, I jumped into the car and made my way over to Shayna's house in East Garfield Park and can I just say, the Lord blew my socks off.
During my conversation with Shayna, she filled me in on why she had reached out to me regarding potentially living together - she had been praying for a while now for a roommate but was unsure of who to ask. She knew that she desired someone who was from the Westside or wasn't weirded out by moving to the Westside. When she saw my text to the prayer group requesting prayer over my housing situation, she took some time to pray about it and talk to some other people at church about it (Ruth & CC) and proceeded to reach out to me. I sat there stunned, and realized that my laundry list of wants/needs/desires was being met by the Lord. Not only had I prayed to the Lord that he would provide housing on the Westside, but a place close to Rush Hospital, close to Lawndale Christian Fitness Center, and not too far away from church. Additionally, I had prayed that he would provide an awesome roommate, and an already furnished living space. Oh, and nearby parks for me to run in. Not only did the Lord answer all of these things, but Shayna's place is on a street that has free parking and a track at the end of the cul-de-sac, including proximity to two huge parks (East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park)! I sat there, and kept hearing the Lord saying "Grace, not only can I answer every single item on your laundry list but I'm working in ways that you can't even see". I felt so known and seen by the Lord, and am just super thankful for the opportunity to live with a phenomenal woman who loves the Lord. I just felt so much peace and assurance that this is the next season for me - to be honest, saying goodbye to the house I'm currently in / North Lawndale will be hard but I sense that it's time for me to move on.
So that happened Tuesday night and then on Wednesday morning, I got a text that the car I have been waiting for finally arrived at the SLC Toyota dealership. I'll be flying out next Thursday and my mom and I will drive it back to Chicago (with pitstops to see Alison in Denver along the way). And then just today, I got a phone call from the neurological sciences department at Rush requesting an interview with me (I started to apply for RUMC ambulatory RN positions while I was on medical furlough recovering from Covid). Like talk about everything happening all at once ha ha. Regarding the interview, I think it's making me hit pause and really assess if I want to step back and switch up my role for a season. Like I know that my heart lies in the community but I just desire to take a break and expand my clinical skills. More on this later.
Anyways, I'm just so grateful to the Lord and for the community that he has placed me in here in Chicago. I'm thankful for the Lord's provision and for friends that are willing to come alongside me and journey with me. I'm thankful that I can continue to live on the Westside and I'm curious to see how the Lord will continue to expand my heart for this community.
Also, the Lord also showed up this afternoon. I went to the fitness center to work out and realized at the end that I had locked myself out of my car. Indeed, my keys were sitting on the seat in my car. I ended up running into one of the EOC guys (Derek) and he proceeded to take out his walkie talkie and page Cliff, another EOC guy. Derek was like "Hey, Cliff, there's a slim Jim here in need of our help." He turned to me, told me to wait a moment, and then proceeded to come back with Cliff with a red bag. I was like what the heck is that and basically they brought all the items needed to jimmy my car open lol. The entire time Cliff and Derek were so nice and helpful and making jokes about how they used to steal cars before Christ met them LOL. Overall, a great time. I told them I would bring them ice cream (butterscotch, in fact) tomorrow after work. Dang. It's moments like this that make me so thankful to live here in North Lawndale.
Also, one final note. On a whim, I made a Coffee Meets Bagel account a few days ago and responded to a guy's like - we ended up matching and so far, the conversation has been good. Actually, he asked me out this weekend so I guess I'm going on a date !? More on this later.
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