interesting doesn't even begin to describe that day!

I had an interesting Friday last week….actually interesting doesn’t even begin to describe it!! The day started off normal, much like any other day, but it took an odd turn around 1:30 in the afternoon. I was sitting at my desk, and I started to not feel so well, something really upset my stomach and I was feeling just awful! It came on very quickly and I felt like all I wanted to do was go home and lay in my bed. I decided after about 5-10 minutes of this feeling that I needed to speak to my boss and let her know that I wasn’t feeling so good and wanted to go home. As I was walking to her desk, I started to feel really dizzy and light-headed. I finally got to my her desk and as I was leaning up on her desk cubicle, I was able to muster out the words “Hey, I am not feeling so good…” which was immediately followed by me passing out on the floor, yes PASSING OUT ON THE FLOOR!!

I remember as I was talking to her thinking, why are my eyes closed? And then I woke up to about 4 people above me, asking me if I am ok and if I am in pain. It was the oddest feeling I have ever felt in my life! As I opened my eyes I thought that everything was just a dream, but soon as I came to, I realized that I indeed was at work lying on the floor!! My managers had me move into the conference room so they could have me rest. I was totally conscious and not in any pain, but they called the paramedics to make sure that everything checked out okay, in case I needed to go to the hospital. At this time, Scott was just about to start work and I called him in a panic to tell him what was going on and that he needed to get to my work ASAP because they might be taking me to the hospital. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to come, because he can’t just leave work without getting penalized for it. Fortunately he was able to come! The paramedics came and there was like 10 guys there to tend to me, needless to say it was OVERWHELMING!!! They fired question after question at me, checked my vitals, and got the story from my managers about what had happened. All my vitals checked out ok, and they gave me the option to go in the ambulance to the hospital, but since everything was ok, I didn’t go and instead made an appointment to see the doctor that afternoon.

Finally Scott came to my work to pick me up, and we went to the doctors. Again, the doctor checked me out and everything looked good, minus a little bit of temp. that I had (which was most likely a result from all commotion). The paramedics thought I could be pregnant, which the doctor didn’t think was likely due to timing of the situation, but to be precautionary she ordered some blood work and a test to see if we had a little tyke on board. Everything came back ok, and NO we are not having a baby, which we were both relieved about, not that we don’t want to have kids, but right now it’s not in our plans, and we would rather have it be more on our timing. What the doctor think happened (in laymen’s terms) is similar to when someone sees the sight of blood and faints, there is a nerve that triggers to your brain when you have a severe on set on nausea, and then you pass out! Simple as that.

Anyways, the point of this blog wasn’t just to share this story, but to share what I learned by the whole experience happening to me.

So here goes my list:
-God is such a faithful God, He is always watching over me even when I don’t know what that I need it (I always knew that, but it’s a good reminder)
-In stressful situations, Scott is my calm; he comforts me by just being by my side. When I called him on the phone to tell him what was going on, and he said he didn’t know if he would be able to come get me, I started crying. I knew that I needed him to be there to hold my hand, or be by my side, I just needed his presence around me.
-I have an AMAZING husband! He was running around trying to get a supervisor at work and even though he could have gotten in “trouble” he left work to come be with me.
-Whenever Scott & I have kids we will REALLY be ready because had the time been now, we would have been ready.
-God is always in control no matter what is going on, He was taking care of both Scott & I, bringing us health, safety, peace, joy, or whatever we needed Him to be in the most chaotic time. It’s good to be His child!

my God is a God who PROVIDES!!

the Lord has been doing some AWESOME things in my life that i would like to share with you!! He is SO GOOD!! brace yourself, cause it's a long story!!

so as everyone knows our economy right now is not so great, and everyone across the board has been making cut backs for the past 3-4 months, including businesses. back in the end of October/early November i had heard through my boss that our company was going to be making some cut backs and that they would be starting in my department. for those of you who don't know what i do, i work as a receptionist at Lube-Tech (it's a lubrication & fuel company). anyways at that time my boss told me that i would need to prepare a list to present to our department head about my duties and responsibilities, so they could review them. once i heard that news, Scott & i really started to believe and speak favor over me that my position and that i would not be laid off. being the receptionist, i was on the lower end of the totem poll, and it would be easy for them to replace me with the person who covers me for lunch and breaks since she knows my job already. the devil really tried to get me in fear about the situation, but in my heart i had peace and knew that no matter what God would provide for me. my flesh kept telling me to go look for a new job and start applying at other places, but something in my spirit kept telling me that was not the right path and to stay faithful to where the Lord has placed me for now.

now fast forward to the first Monday in December, in the morning i got pulled into a meeting with my entire department and found out that they had let my friend Connie(who was my backup for my breaks) go and that they had rearranged my department entirely, but that for the most part the positions at our building would stay the same (our company has 4 buildings in the twin cities). i was so devastated for my friend who has been let go, because i knew her situation, and it was sad to see my only fellow Christian in the workplace get booted out the door. once this happened, i felt mixed in my emotions because for the time i felt safe, but i knew that it would only be a matter of time before more changes would be made within the company again, and that didn't put me at ease. i just continued believing God for favor, and in my spirit i had complete peace that no matter what happened that He would make a way for me.

so, that brings us last week on Thursday morning. when i walked into the office to start the day i noticed that things were a bit more tense then usual, and i wasn't quite sure what to make of it. one of my coworkers walked up to me and said "have you checked your emails this morning?" i had no being that i just walked in the door, and she said "oh well you definitely will see some interesting things!" when i logged into my email there were 2 emails from people in other departments saying how much they will miss the company and the people they have worked with, and that it had been a great time. i was really shocked by this especially since one of them had been with the company for 10+ years! shortly after that, another friend of mine walked up to my desk and said, "i know it's going to my last day today. i have a meeting with my department head in the next few minutes, and they have just laid off 2 other people in the warehouse, and i know i'm next" sure enough within 20 minutes he was out the door and laid off. i was utterly shocked! however, the layoffs didn't end there! they pulled in 2 more people who had also been with the company for years and let them know that they were also going to be laid off. literally this all happened in just a few short hours. needless to say everyone in our company was on the edge of their seat wondering if they too would be called into the dreaded office where they would be laid off.

at about 11 that morning the HR manager came up to my desk and asked to speak with me in her office for a few minutes, to which of course i said yes. as we were walking back to her office i thought "this is it, they are letting me go" but oddly enough in my spirit i had complete and total peace. when we got to her office she said, "don't worry i have good news for you." the company had indeed decided to put someone else in my position, but they all like me and my work, and didn't want to lose me to another company, so they wanted to offer me a position at our st. paul office in our customer service department, which is a PROMOTION for me!!!! it really took me a second to process what was going on, in the midst of all the layoffs they were making all morning long, letting people who had been working there for 10+ years, they wanted to PROMOTE me to a bigger position and PAY ME MORE!!!!!!!! TALK ABOUT THE FAVOR OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that entire day i was so overwhelmed with the goodness of God! He is faithful to provide for me no matter what the economy looks like, or how bleak a situation is, it DOES NOT MATTER, because He is BIGGER than all of that and always finds a way!!! what really amazed me was how when all these changes were being made and i was not sure about my future, He gave me peace in abundance while He worked out my promotion! what an awesome testimony of His greatness! i have only been faithful to my little job as a receptionist, but my faithfulness to that job mixed with the favor of God made a way for me to get promoted without really having to lift a finger!! PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS!!!

i just want to encourage any of you that may be feeling the effects of what the situation in our world and economy is like right now, to just continue to be faithful to whatever it is that God is having you do, no matter how minimal it seems, you can trust that while you continue to do that, He is working out BIG THINGS for you!!! it's good to know HIM!!

one missed call

I am wondering, when you had a missed call from a phone number that you don’t recognize, do you call them back? Or do you forget about it because if it was someone you knew, or something important, they would have left you a message? Personally, I am the latter of the two choices. If I see I have a missed call from a number that my phone doesn’t recognize, and there is no voicemail, I delete it from my call list and move on with my day. I mostly assume that it is someone trying to sell me something, or usually just a misdialed number.

I assumed most people were the same as me…until I started working as a receptionist. I would probably say that 5-10 calls I get at work each day are from people who received a missed called from the company, and it usually goes something like this.

Kimmy: “Thank you for calling Lube Tech, how can I direct your call?”
Caller: “[long pause]……Who is this!?”
Kimmy: “This is Lube Tech, how can I direct your call?”
Caller: “Um….i just got a missed call from here so I just called back, I didn’t get a voicemail or anything, do you know who called me?”
Kimmy: [after rolling my eyes] “Sorry I don’t know who would have called you if they didn’t leave you a message”
Caller: “[pause] …Who is this again?”
Kimmy; “This is Lube Tech”
Caller: “…What do you do?”
Kimmy: “Um, we sell lubrication products & fuel.”
Caller: “….Hmm and you don’t know who called me?”
Kimmy: “Sorry I don’t know unless they left you a voicemail.”
Caller: “........”
Kimmy: “Ok, well have a good day.”
Caller: “…yah”

SERIOUSLY, this happens DAILY!! The wording doesn’t always play out that way, but on 9 out of 10 times that will be pretty dead on. I really don’t think that people get the concept that business phones will display only one number when an outbound call is placed, and not that person’s direct extension. Some days it is funny, but other times I really get frustrated at the stupidity of people. Sometime I want to respond, “No, I don’t know who called you, we have like 250 employees, would you like to take a stab at it?” I really thought that most people didn’t call if they didn’t know the number, but apparently human curiosity is too overpowering, either that or they REALLY enjoy frustrating a receptionist!!

So I want to know, do you call a missed unknown number, or do you let it go??