Best Worst Thing

 

As I was reading my Lysa T. devotional this morning, I was transported back in time to about eight years ago.

I was going through a divorce, and I was going to be left without my husband's large salary and with two teenage boys to care for.  I hadn't been in the corporate work world for quite a while, as we had made the decision for me to stay at home and raise our children.  I eventually took a job with our local church helping teach a preschool class.  I loved that job so much, I ended up staying there 11 years.

It was 2013, and I knew with a divorce pending I would not be able to survive on the small salary my preschool job provided - let alone get insurance from it or stay on my children's school schedules.

It was then that one of my closest friends got me a job with our county's school system...as a LUNCH LADY.  I remember her words so clearly, that summer afternoon, as I held the phone close to my ear while sitting on my little country farmhouse front porch wicker swing...

"Whatever lower level rung you were on at the preschool, where other teachers made snide remarks to you about not being a real teacher, you are about to go down one more rung.  Lunch ladies are lower on the ladder than preschool teachers."

My heart sank.  What was about to happen to my life?  How many wrong decisions had I made to get to this point?  How had my husband "failed me" and got me to this point?  I was full of questions and didn't quite understand what was about to happen to me and my boys.  It was about to be one of the worst things ever.

Fast forward my story two years later.  I was no longer a lunch lady.  I interviewed for (and got!) a front office job at one of the high schools.  Those cafeteria years, once in my rear view mirror, became one of, as Lysa T. says, "...the best worst things" that ever happened to me.

We all have those times in life.  Times were you feel, "This is the worst thing ever!"  We don't understand why we have to go through them or why we have to experience hardships, deaths, or even destructions of some type.  Yet, God remains by our side and gets us through them.

"We live in a broken world, full of broken people.  But isn't it comforting to know God isn't ever broken?"

My time as a lunch lady was hard.  It contained some people who were broken, but it also contained many strong women of different faiths, colors, and nationalities.  I learned so much during those two years.  Lessons I could not have learned elsewhere.

And I probably would not have gotten the job I have now or even heard about it.  That lunch lady job opened a door for me to earn more money and to help better support my household.  What started out as a bad situation, God later turned into one of my best worst things.

God is never caught off guard or taken by surprise or shocked by what happens in our lives.  As Lysa says, "He can take our worst and add His best."  I absolutely love that - He adds His best.  To our worst.  What a lovely combination.

I know He did this for me during my cafeteria and lunch lady years.  I'm so glad He did.  Life was tough then.  I had to make hard decisions.  Through it all, God kept my children safe, kept their Mom on their school schedules, and we were able to keep insurance for everyone.  What a blessing!

Whatever you are going through today, keep this thought in mind - when life gets hard and muddy, God may be creating your best worst thing!  He did it for me, and He will do it for you!

Happy Tuesday y'all!