And there's your sign....

This story takes place on Saturday, August 31, 2013. I woke up, took Dustin to his friends house to carpool to work. I came home and showered. While I was in the shower I was thinking... I ALWAYS do my best thinking in the shower. Sometimes I pray there too. Well I was doing a combination of the two, thinking and praying, and I came to think about a promise I made to God. I promised that if I got a teaching job this year that I would donate $100 to St. Jude Children's Hospital with my first "teacher" paycheck! Well I wasn't expecting my first check till end of September but I received one at the end of August. (That Friday before.) When I thought about this promise I thought of what I would have to do to honor it. We don't have a working bank account right now so we don't have checks and I know St. Jude Children's Hospital does not take cash. The only other option I could think of was a money order. I told myself I would look it up later on the internet and decide what way I would do it to ensure I would honor my promise!

A little while later...
So, I leave the house, go pay rent and then come home for a few minutes to pass time till I met my friend Wavie for lunch. In the 30 minutes I was home the craziest things happened to me!! First, when I went pee (TMI, sorry) and flushed the toilet, the toilet started making some weird noises. When I turned around I see that the toilet is overflowing. I jump back and flip the rug out of the way then grab the plunger and start plunging. Water continues to pour out onto the floor then all of a sudden I hear this horrible gurgling noise and BOOM all the water is sucked back down and the toilet goes back to normal. We have lived in the apartment for 2 years now and have NEVER EVER had ANY issues with the toilet or plumbing at all! I pick up the rug to take it outside to dry because the corner is a little wet. As I open the door I see a BRIGHT flash of lightning that felt like it was right in front of me and immediately after that I hear a HUGE CRASH of thunder! It scared the crap out of me! The CRAZIEST part of all this.... it was SUNNY outside! There was literally no clouds in the sky AT ALL!! As I take the rug back into the bathroom to hang it on the tub I look at the towels mopping up the water on the floor and start to think maybe God is trying to tell me something. I think to myself, "Maybe God is trying to tell me to stay home." Maybe God is trying to keep me home so I don't have an accident or something." After contemplating a few moments about whether to call and cancel or not, I decide to go. I didn't have any bad feelings so I felt I was doing the right thing.

I got to Chili's first and while I am waiting for Wavie I notice something on the wall for a wristband that is $4.00 donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm. I will ask about that." Well when Wavie gets there and we get seated the first thing the waitress tells us about the "Create a Pepper" fundraiser. You all have seen it, I am sure. You color the pepper any way you like and then you can donate some money! Well I already knew this was God's way of saying, "Ok, Kelani I gave you these two weird and crazy signs to get your attention.... HERE IS YOUR SIGN!!" Sometimes I can be a little slow on the uptake.... I proudly colored my pepper (looked horrible- but I tried, LOL) and wrote $100 in the donation box. Wavie was shocked, I told her my story and she said that is a testimony right there. When the waitress came to give us our bill she asked about our peppers. Wavie told her about hers and then said, "You have to hear her testimony (pointing at me) behind her donation!" When I hand her mine and she see the $100 bill she takes a step back and gets teary eyed and says, "Tell me your story." I told her EVERYTHING above that you have just read. She is holding back tears and says, " I have to tell you that this means a lot to me because St. Jude is close to my heart." She said her son was born with an extra chromosome (not down syndrome but something else) and her husband is in the military and is deployed often. She said that St. Jude has put her in a house during times when her son needed medical care. She said she knows families who have lost their children and St. Jude pays off their medical bills. She said she knew she was blessed because her son would live a long life with few limitations compared to other families who weren't so lucky. Her story touched me.

As we were leaving a manager and 2 other employees came up and thanked me for my donation. I guess she had went back and told coworkers my story. I know she was having a hard time containing herself while talking to me. It really touched my heart.

(Had I decided not to follow God's signs I would never have heard her story.)

I didn't do the donation for anyone other than God. I wanted to honor my promise to Him. I wanted to show Him that I will follow Him and try to LISTEN as best as possible. It is hard for me sometimes because... well I cant put into words why.... Other than it is hard trusting someone other than yourself. Especially a Higher power...

I wanted to share this story because it touched me in so many ways.
1. I was proud to honor my promise to God. Proud that I trusted Him and LISTENED to Him.
2. I wanted to share that I feel BLESSED because God did communicate with me and I was OPEN to it. Before I would have ignored it all.
3. It really touched my heart to hear her story.

"Something BIG done happened to me and I gotta tell the world about it!" Mary Mary

First, let me start by saying that if you haven't read my last post (or last few), maybe you should! It will give you some background information!

Over the last two weeks I have been having revelations about situations I am going through. I am positive it is God letting me know WHY I had to go through those situations! I understand that several people do not get those answers a lot of the time and for that, I feel blessed! He has pretty much validated to me why I went through all these bad things/obstacles! I am excited to share all this with you! So bare with me, it may be LONG!

Less than a month ago something terrible happened to me while I was working at the gas station. I mentioned this in my July 14 post-Trials and Tribulations. This thing had the power to affect my whole life! It could've affected my career in a negative way which is my means, my dream and it made me feel HORRIBLE. I am still not ready to go too much into it. (I know I promised I would but I am not sure I should.) Anyway, when this happened I felt horrible and my whole live became one big question mark. I had to realize what was wrong in my life and I am a big believer in Karma. You get what you deserve! I was trying to find out what it was I did wrong. I realized I had been telling God for a year that if He allowed me to not work on Sundays then I would go to church. Well I hadn't worked a Sunday for a month and never once went. Hindsight 20/20... he was making a path for me. He knew that the only way I would finally leave that gas station was to have something bad happen to me there to give me a "bad taste in my mouth" about it. He knows how stubborn I am. He wasn't punishing me, he was HELPING me!

Let me give you a timeline of my path:
**Friday, July 12, 2013- This is the day the bad event happened and I felt horrible. On that day I realized this was a trial and tribulation that God was giving me to guide me to where He wants me! I had been praying for God to help build our relationship and He gave me Trials and Tribulations so I would trust Him! It worked!
**Sunday, July 14, 2013- My first time going to church here in Florida. Amazing experience. That sermon was JUST FOR ME!
**Sunday, July 21,2013- I was reading a daily devotional on my phone (free app) and praying a lot! Just having faith in Him!
**Friday, July 26, 2013- I heard God speak to me and tell me to, "Be patient." I praised Him hard and I was SO happy to get a message!!
**Tuesday, July 30, 2013- This was an important day I had been waiting for all month. It came and God did not fail me although I did not have the answers I wanted THAT DAY. He delivered later! I went out that day and bought a daily devotional that my friend had recommended it! (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)
**Wednesday July 31,2013- When I prayed to God on this morning and was talking with Him about wanting a teaching job this year He told me to send emails to Principals and mention my ESL experience. It turns out that all my praying and emailing the Principals worked because an hour later I had a hit for an interview that coming Friday! (That ended up being the job I got!) Later this day at church I had revelation/epiphany about why things were happening the way they were for me. This is when I came to the realization that the reason that bad event happened at the gas station was to get me out of the gas station. God wanted me to have a "bad taste in my mouth" about going back for several reasons! 1. So we could continue our great and growing relationship. Because if I went back to working there again I would surely be working 15 hour Sundays again in no time. 2. Because He already had this teaching job lined up for me. I am sure there are several more reasons I just do not know yet!
**Thursday August 1, 2013- I had another hit on my emails. I set up another interview for Friday morning! I was beyond elated!
**Monday August 5, 2013- I got my job offer at Northwood Elementary in Crestview!! This was the principal that responded to me RIGHT after I felt that God told me to email the principals! As soon as I accepted this job I got a call about the thing I did not get answers to on July 30! This is when He delivered later!!! And boy, did He deliver! He answered all my prayers! I was still worried about one little thing and continued to pray about it!
**Wednesday August 7, 2013- He answered that one little thing I prayed about!! I also signed my teaching contract this day!!!!

Today I had a HUGE revelation into God's plan... and it brought me to tears! As soon as it happened I called my mom to tell her! I had to tell someone and I knew she would share my excitement and enthusiasm and understand me!

This is what I told her in a nutshell:
I told her I realized today that I was meant to get that classroom assistant job at Silver Sands (which I really LOVED) because it made me meet a lady named Nora (and several other AWESOME people). I worked with Nora this summer and at the end of this summer about a week after this bad event happened to me- her husband started working at my old gas station (He kind of took my place.) And Bud LOVES him! When I talked to Bud last night he asked me for my key to the store back! Some of y'all should know how happy this makes me! It finally closed that chapter! I know God wanted me out of there to fulfill my purpose elsewhere. And it makes me feel AMAZING to think I am apart of something bigger! What if I never met Nora or her husband never went to work for Bud? What if I didn't take that bad event as a sign from God? What if I didn't listen to God when He was talking to me? Would I have been patient or would I have given up? Would I have emailed that principal? Would I have gotten this AWESOME 4th grade teaching job?!?! And what purpose do I have for being at this school, in this grade? I am excited to find out!! And I trust that in His time God will reveal it to me! Or maybe he won't but either way I WILL trust Him!

During this wonderful chat with my mom she helped me realize several things... in no particular order!

• It is always easy to take the nicely paved road that has several water stops along the way. But when you take the road less traveled you go uphill, downhill, come across rocks, holes, jutting branches, big trees in the way! But you must trust that God will be there to guide you when you feel you cannot go on, guide you when you don't know what to do or to just guide you because there is a better way. The road less traveled is A LOT harder but it is SOOOOOOO worth it once you get there!
• I am a lot more blessed that I give myself credit for. I, and my mom agrees, am blessed with intuition that a lot of people do not have! I am just really finding out how great it is!
• I am also blessed that God has just laid a clear path for me. When I accepted this job in Crestview (30 minutes in the opposite direction of Dustin's work) (We share a car.) I wasn't worried because I KNEW God would make a way for us and he did! The day I accepted the job him and another guy decided they would be carpooling together! All I have to do is drop Dustin off at his house in the morning! How awesome is that?!
• My mom and I have ALWAYS had someone to take us under their wing, to guide and help us when we needed it the most! I had several people growing up and even now! So blessed and thankful!! 

Praising Him like NO tomorrow!! So grateful, humbled, blessed and impressed!


P.S. If you want to know this even I will share it with you, I have no problem with that. But I did not want to put it on here.

God speaks in His own time!

Yesterday was an amazing day for me! I feel like I heard God speak to me! I know y'all are thinking "Yea right!" But I did, and I know I did. I heard Him to tell me to, "Be patient." I was driving Dustin to work and someone cut me off and I got a little frustrated. All of a sudden I heard the words, "Be Patient" in my head! But I felt there was more to it than that... meaning be patient, I got something great in store for you. Right after that I saw a dragonfly fly right in front of my car. I couldn't help but smile. Those of you who know me, know the significance of dragonflies to me. Right after that I called AND GOT THROUGH  the radio station Highway 98 and qualified for a pontoon rental and a concert in Tampa.I have been trying since last Friday!!! The rest of my day was great!

Let me back up by saying I prayed really hard and longer than normal that morning. Wednesday was a rough day for me. I was sad, upset, frustrated and feeling down all day long. When I woke up yesterday I did not want to feel that way so I prayed long and hard for all my friends and family who are struggling and who weren't, for me and my mood, for my patience to be better, etc. I feel like the Lord delivered when he knew I needed it most. If I wouldn't have been listening I would have missed it! I am soooooo glad I didn't!

Praising God for everything! Thank you Jesus!

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. ~Native American Saying

It is November... that means Thanksgiving and a time to GIVE thanks. Every day this month I have put things that I am thankful for as my Facebook statuses. I feel like I have a lot to be thankful for! Number 1:  I am thankful for knowing God. Thankful that I have a relationship with Him. I feel like this is so important. Since it is November and this is MY blog I here are a list of some of the things I am thankful for. (In no particular order.)

-To be alive, breathing and healthy.
-My 5 senses. I can taste my food and enjoy it. I can see all the beauty around me- leaves changing, beautiful ocean view, etc. I can hear music (I LOVE music!), people talking, regular noises you would normally dismiss.  Smelling and feeling, well most people can do that.
-My husband for doing everything he does. He cooks, cleans and is a handyman plus so many other things. I would even go as far as saying that I am thankful that he gets on my nerves as well. (Like this morning ;-D )
-My mom, sister and family (this includes in laws.) I love and miss them all!
-Thankful for my jobs, even if there are several aspects that I do NOT like about them. My job at Pyramid has humbled me and made me VERY appreciative.
-Thankful that we were able to move to Florida and get our life started on our own. Thankful for my apartment and everything in it. (As little as we have.)
-Thankful for having an AMAZING best friend, Tiffany. Tiffany has been my friend through ups,  downs and upside downs. You name it we have been through it! She has never bed mouthed me, nor I her. She has always been there... whether we went 6 days or 6 months without talking we ALWAYS pick back up to where we left off.
-^^ The previous one includes her kids! She has the most amazingly fantastical kids in the world. To say that Dustin and I love them would be an understatement. A HUGE one. I am SOOOO thankful that I get to watch them grow up and be a part of their lives.
-^^  ^^ This includes Brandon... Tiff's hubby and the amazingly fantastical kids dad! Brandon has helped Dustin and I SO much! He found our apartment for us, told Dustin where to apply for his current job plus he makes my BFF happy. :-D
-Thankful for my ability to read and write. I could not imagine my life without doing either. I LOVE reading and am trying my hand at this writing thing. (Hopefully I will start my book soon.) There are so many people in this world who do not know the joy of reading. My hope as a teacher is to get several students to LOVE reading like I do.
-Thankful for anyone and everyone who prays for me. Anyone who mentions my name to the man upstairs, thank you! I need it!
-Thankful for everything that has led me to where I am today despite all the trouble I had to go through to get here.
-Thankful for the relationship my dad and I now have after 20 years.
-Thankful for my mom, who NEVER gave up on me when I know there were several days years she "wanted to put me through a brick wall!" (Her words, not mine.)
-Thankful to the women who always seemed to know I needed a mentor.... Rita Johnson and Norma Gould (Momma G). Rita Johnson was in my life during my Fort Bragg years and I really have no idea if she understands the impact she had on my life. My mom was a single mom in the military and she took me into her home with her son and family. She would take me on trips when she went to Carowinds, sleep over at her house and watch movies, etc. She was there when I needed her. I am forever grateful that she was there and I plan on repaying the favor myself one day!
Momma G... she had my rougher teenage years. LOL She is the mother of one of my other best friends, Debra. Debra has a confidence that I want... Love her! She is so smart and beautiful... she is going places. Mark my words! Momma G gave me the self- confidence I was lacking, helped me see the dumb decisions I made and helped me realize my potential. She is the reason I went to college. Ms. Rita and Momma G are the reasons I went into teaching. I want to be like them! I want to help kids the way they helped me. I am thankful for them Ms. Rita could have just seen me at the Youth Center M-F but she took me under her wing. I love her for that and it meant the world to me then... even more now because I see and understand she did not have to do that. Momma G could have just let me go to bed that night I stayed over at Debra's and not listened to a word I said but she didn't. She listened and believed in me.... all I wanted. Thank you.
-Thankful that I will be in North Carolina in the next 48 hours. I can't wait to go to my home town and see my friends and family. I miss them.

Last but not least, I am thankful for ANY and EVERYTHING that you can be thankful for. Mostly for things we take for granted.