Thursday, September 15, 2011

One Year

One year ago today I started working at Crazy 8. I seriously can't believe that it's been a year already. It still kind of feels like my 'new job'.
Let's do a flash back shall we??
I started working for Crazy 8 because things were not going well at American Eagle. I had been working at AE for over a year and a half. I had worked at 3 different AE stores and had 4 (going on 5) different store managers. I had just spent that summer helping the assistant managers run the store without a store manager and instead of pulling up someone from the store (...like me...) to be an assistant, they hired someone outside the company. I was sick of having to prove myself over and over again to every new store manager.
So I kind of started looking around for another job. I was praying and trying to figure out what I should do. And then one day I was heading out of work and a woman walked in. I asked her if I could help her. She said yes, she was looking for a sales lead (lower manager). I said, "you're looking for me." Yes she was. Within a week I had my job as a sales lead at Crazy 8.
During this past year at Crazy 8 I've been pulled up as temporary assistant manager (because our assistant went on maternity leave for 3 months) and I've been hand picked by my district manager to be head sales lead on a 4 month corporate project.
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be apart of this corporate project. I'm so flattered that my district manager picked me. She told me that the second she found out about this project she said, "I want Rachel on this." This is such an amazing opportunity to build a new brand and to be apart of something so new. Corporate will have their eyes on this project and I can't wait to show them what I'm made of!
Of course any chance I had for a social life was shot the second I said yes to this project...I'll still be assistant manager/sales lead at Crazy 8 while being head sales lead at this new store...plus I still do special projects for AE...AND I'm going to school almost full time...
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

He just wants to hear from us

Alright. I know I haven't finished my August photo challenge...I'm having a few challenges with my laptop. But no worries because I'm getting a new one this week (sigh of relief and gratitude) so hopefully I'll get that finished soon.

Today is Fast Sunday - for those of you who have no idea what this means...it means that during the first hour of church members of the congregation have the opportunity to stand in front of everyone and share experiences that have helped them draw closer to Jesus Christ. Or to just share with us what they believe (we call that a testimony). And believe it or not but it's actually one of my favorite parts of the church. Now don't get me wrong, there are people in the congregation who tend to just talk and talk and sometimes the talking has like nothing to do with the Savior. You know, the people you just roll your eyes at when you see them getting up to speak. Luckily the ward I'm in is fantastic.

Sometimes I feel inspired to go up and share my testimony. But today I did not. Today I sat back and enjoyed listening to others share their testimony and was greatly strengthened by what people said. One girl talked about prayer. She said that there are times when she goes to pray and thinks to herself: oh God doesn't want to hear from me today. He doesn't want to hear about everything that I did wrong and about all the things I could do better.
What she said made me evaluate my attitude about prayer. I feel a lot like she does: oh, God doesn't want to hear from me today. I fall short so many times and I feel like my life is just the same all the time. I work like a crazy person. I'm trying to survive school. Help my car to last just a little bit longer, I almost have money to get it fixed. Please help me not feel like a idiot when I see my ex in class. I'm sorry that I think pretty much everyone is stupid and please help me to be more Christ-like.
But this girl said something that made me feel...well stupid for not remembering that it's totally true, but also realized that it's something I need to feel for myself. She said that even though she sometimes feels like God doesn't want to hear from her because she's not perfect, that it's totally the opposite, that despite that she isn't perfect, God WANTS to hear from her anyway.
He just wants to hear from us.
Even if what we have to say isn't all that wonderful or fantastic. Even though He knows that I have like no patience for people and that I beg and pled for the same things every day, He just wants to hear from me. And me in my imperfect [yet perfect ;)] state can't seem to remember that. God loves me. And I'm grateful for people who bear their testimonies and for those testimonies that touch my heart and remind me of what I already know but always manage to forget.