When Life Doesn't Go As Planned

   The year I turned twenty I thought I knew where I'd be by now. In my mind I would've been able to give up my job shipping model vehicles at 3000toys.com  and get married by the time I was around twenty-one. By now I'd have been happily married for a little while with maybe even a little one on the way. Well, I have no baby, I'm not married and I'm not working in a shipping warehouse. God, evidently, had a different plan for me. One evening in March of 2013 I was looking at the job listings on the Dress Barn website. I wasn't seriously looking, just browsing and thinking "what if?" From there I randomly decided to see if there were any seamstress jobs listed on Craigslist. I never dreamed what that seemingly insignificant search would lead to. Today, a bit over two years after I saw the ad by the owner of a busy alteration shop, was my first day as the official owner of a shop in the same location.
   This past December the owner got married and then her husband took a job in another state. At first I shied away from trying to take over after her departure but after a while I decided that it really made all the sense in the world. So the last few months have been spent trying to get everything ready for taking over while keeping up (or not keeping up)  with everything else I had going on around here And then came last week, her last week as the boss. As the weekend drew nearer we each had a variety of emotions, both of us stepping out into the unknown, away from our regular, secure ways of living. Today I entered my role as owner, the one responsible for everything that goes on in my shop. And it's scary. But also exhilarating. Two years ago I had no idea that after such a short period of time I'd end up with my own shop in an already established location, without the rough uncertainty most young people face when setting up business. And all because I did a simple search and saw an ad for a part-time seamstress.

  "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."

Proverbs 16:9