Category: Living… Learning… Growing

Living… Learning… Growing (Part 3)

by thefaithfilledtraveler, posted in Living... Learning... Growing, Uncategorized

Have you ever said or heard someone say something like, ” You don’t have control over anything or anyone. You only have control over yourself.” ? Personally, I have said and even heard similar statements many times over the course of my life. However, experiencing it through my personal shopping adventure has really heightened my awareness of this.

As a personal shopper, everything from scheduling my hours for the week to shopping for my customers was done through an app. On the days that I was scheduled to work, I would receive an alert when I had a customer that needed groceries. I would then shop for them given the list of goods they had selected on the app and deliver them to their homes.

After a few weeks of doing this, I began to notice patterns related to the app. It became evident that the company was controlling everything from scheduling, to the wait list, to the particular orders that I would receive and where I would shop and then deliver them to my customers. Unfortunately, after disputing the referral bonus that I had received due to it being much less than they had advertised, it was apparent that they were not in my favor. Thankfully, the Lord gave me vision to recognize this.

For years I have prayed for eyes to see, ears to hear and the heart to feel that which the Lord is attempting to show me… to teach me… to remind me of. And there is no doubt that this was the case in this particular situation. What he showed me was that  the things of this life will control us, if we allow them to. What he reminded me of is that he is in control of it all, but we must allow him the room to do what only he can do. See, our father, the Creator of The Universe loves us so much that he gives us the freedom to do it our way. But, when/if we finally figure out that our way isn’t necessarily the best way, he steps in. Thank goodness, he steps in!

Well, I pray this post has helped you in some way. The experience has certainly helped me… tremendously. With that….make it a great day. LET GO AND LET GOD! His ways are much greater than our own. Take care, my friends. I’ll see you here tomorrow as we wrap up the blog week!!!

 

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson

 

Living… Learning… Growing ( Part 2)

by thefaithfilledtraveler, posted in Living... Learning... Growing

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you wanted to tell everyone you know about it? Was it something that you felt would not only benefit you and your family, but the world around you? I certainly have. In fact, that is exactly what recently happened when I entered the world of personal shopping in an effort to contribute to my families income during my daughters leukemia battle. Only in my case, I quickly learned that things were not exactly what they appeared to be. But, the Lord is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. He is faithful!

See…when I ventured out into the new world of personal shopping, I did so because of the flexibility it offered and because I felt like it would not only benefit my family in various ways, but the world around me. After all, I was able to serve the elderly, the sick, moms who were home with their children, etc. This gave me a sense of purpose each morning that was far greater than myself. And on top of that, the company offered a generous bonus for anyone that you referred to them to do the same thing, if they met certain requirements within a designated time frame.

Excited about what I was experiencing, I shared the opportunity with my middle daughter, Mariah. As a college student, I felt like she would benefit  not only from the additional income, but the flexibility to earn it when she was able to do so. Equally excited, she hit the floor running. Not only did she earn extra income, but she met the requirements for me to earn my bonus. And she did it with a week to spare.

That said, the excitement that the two of us shared quickly came to an end when the company did not stand up to their end of the bargain in regards to the bonus. Instead, they gave me 5% of what they were offering for our area. As you can imagine, this was quite frustrating and disappointing considering that the two of us worked really hard to meet the criteria. Everything that I had come to believe about my new adventure quickly came to a halt.

Thankfully, during that process the Lord reminded me that all good things come from him and that although others may fall short of their promises, he never will. The funny thing is, the reminder came in the form of a Kroger gift card. Yes, my friends…a Kroger gift card.  A few short days after learning what the company did, my family and I received a gift card for groceries from someone, and it was in the amount of the bonus that I was supposed to receive for the referral. Doesn’t the Lord have a funny sense of humor? Not only did he bless us with the amount of the bonus, but he used the very thing that Mariah and I were shopping for to bless us with…..GROCERIES!

My point? There are two. First… although others may fall short, the Lord never will. Second, blessings come in many forms and we will miss them if we focus too hard &/or long on what we think “should” be. He has a plan and a purpose for it all, my friends. Rest in knowing that!!! (Hugs) to you all! Make it a great day!

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson

 

Living… Learning…Growing

by thefaithfilledtraveler, posted in Living... Learning... Growing

Good Monday morning, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. With our oldest daughter, Morgan being in the hospital for the past 6 days, the Watson’s weekend was not quite what we would have planned, but we did manage to get a little rest in here and there. That in itself is something to be thankful for, right?  Besides, for the past month, I don’t feel like there has been much “rest” taking place within our four walls, at least not for this mom.

Some of you may have noticed that my social media presence has been minimal  and that my blog post have been non existent over the course of the past 4 weeks. To be honest, I had been working really hard on the personal shopping adventure in an effort to help my family from a financial standpoint. As you can imagine, not working outside of our home for nearly a year in an effort to be available for our daughter as she under goes treatment for a leukemia relapse, has put a bit of a strain on us. On the other hand, it has also been a blessing in that I have been able to do all of the things for my family that I have needed/wanted to do.

With that said, since starting my personal shopping adventure 2 months ago,  I have learned quite a bit  and have been reminded of just as much. Particularly, in the past 4 weeks I have gained a lot of knowledge about the company that I was contracted for as a result of the hands on experience that I acquired. Unfortunately, a good portion of it has not been positive. Actually, it has been quite the opposite in the natural. However, we serve a super natural God who has graciously taught me so very much through this experience, and I would like to share some of it with you.

Over the next 3 days, I am going to dive into some of the valuable lessons that I have learned and some of the things that he has reminded me of, with the hope that it will some how benefit you. After all, that is what this life is all about.… living, learning and growing. There are no mistakes. Every circumstance that we encounter is an opportunity for us to come out on the other side of it better that how we started. So, will you join me? If so, I’ll plan on seeing you here tomorrow morning and on Facebook until then. Take care!

Warmest regards,

Salina Watson