I have gotten a job. I had no job experience, so I was basically restricted to fast food, so I have to work on Saturdays and Sundays. I will show how this is relevant later.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference.
Many Catholics- and perhaps some protestants- are familiar with the Serenity Prayer, which is the prayer I typed below the picture. Such a prayer helps you remember God knows everything and he is in control. This has helped me through college and getting a job. I prayed that God would do His Holy Will for me when I was placed on academic probation during my fall semester. I honestly did not believe I could possibly get off probation during the spring semester, but I prayed about it and I did, thanks to God! However, I feel called by God to take off a semester, and possibly a year, to work in a town closer to my house and save up to live on campus. (At my school, most people live in the county of the school or the surrounding counties. I hadn't thought about living on-campus until last year, but I got interested.) Anyway, my grandma had multiple health problems and passed away in January. This caused my grades to suffer. However, I prayed, and I got off probation after a lot of work, but I am still taking the semester off. God made us able to afford for me to go to college this year, but my grandma's medical and funeral expenses made this financially difficult. I want to take time off so I can make money and so my parents can save money for me to continue my education and live on-campus.
Sometimes God's answers are a little rockier. My mom warned me my grandma would not likely live much longer around Christmas because she was having hip surgery. The surgeons said the fracture was likely an old one because there was no bleeding. She also forgot how to eat and developed an infection throughout her whole body called sepsis. She went unconscious with septic shock a week before she died, and my mom said a miracle could happen. However, as Catholics, we gave her the Anointing of the Sick Sacrament. She continued to decline and passed away on January 27, 2019. Though I was sad she was gone (especially since she was my only grandparent who lived for me to be born), I knew God was calling her home.
Back to my job. I only work four days a week rather than five, but being fast food, I have to work specifically on Saturdays at four PM. This is when people are starting to grab food and hang out. The problem with this is this is when my church has Mass. (It's the earliest you can go to church and it fulfill your Sunday obligation, although I'm not sure why that was chosen.) Since I live in a small town, our church population is low, and we only have a few altar servers. (We allow girls to serve. The reason I still serve is because we don't have many servers and there are few kids, so banning girls, in this case, is not helpful. By the time the altar-boy issue was revealed to me, the damage had been done.) Basically, since that's in the middle of the day and just before dinner time, and since I live in a small town with no fast food chains-and no where for teens to work- I kind of have to work during that mass and go to a different parish without my family. I also have to just hope other people serve and accept the fact that I will not be available to serve anymore. However, I know God will make things at my church work out. Maybe people will see I'm not available anymore and will step up and serve. Maybe some of them will be boys and will become priests one day. Being unavailable is hard, but maybe God has a plan for something good to come out of that.
Of course, God answers many prayers in different ways. Sometimes dying people get a miracle and stay alive, such as Colton Burpo, who almost died due to appendicitis when he was 3. He went to Heaven, but he returned to Earth. Other times, God is calling those people home. I really believed Sophia Gall, a 16 year-old Austrailian who had Osteosarcoma, would beat her cancer, and she did... because her positive and bubbly personality shone through every obstacle she faced and eventually her suffering ended. Although at first I believed she would stay on Earth, she passed away almost a year ago. Some will wonder why a loving God would allow an innocent child to suffer. Although none of us will ever really understand why, it is likely a sign that He is in control and His will will be done. As hard as it is to accept, one day we will be in Heaven and understand.
It's been almost a year, Sophia. You are missed very much, and so are you, Grandma. Your birthdays were both October 4th. May God make Sophia's family and mine as happy as possible on that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment