grow – SimplyLBPerspective

Praise God for new beginnings! I thought I would keep it light-hearted my next post since it’s the Holidays. People all around have heavy hearts during this season with missing loved ones. I’m going to share a story that has recently happened in my life that I hope inspires you!

Introduction

Going off of my last post, I told you I got the job I was praying for. Let me tell you how it all went down. In late September I was laid off from my full time job I had been at for almost 2 years. I was working over 50 hours a week and got burnt out. I barely saw my husband, family or friends. It wasn’t the grind I wanted for the rest of my life. The lay off was devasting because it was a shock yet, I was relieved. In this time, I took the first 2 days to feel sorry for myself and then got back to reaching out to people and applying EVERYWHERE. Except, I didn’t want to go backwards or just go anywhere. I worked my butt off to get to where I was but I yearned for something fulfilling. If you are working at a 9-5 for 5 days a week, you spend MOST of your life with the people you work with. Shouldn’t it it be an enjoyable environment with people that care about you inside and out of work? I wanted that. Loved ones said to just get in where I could even if it was part time. I took the advice but deep down I was telling myself, don’t settle. I practiced talking to God constantly. Telling Him what I wanted for my family, my future, and said I trust Him with my finances. He put it on mine and my husband’s heart to get emerged in community. Boy did we need that! Going through something that impacts your life that greatly takes more than 2 sometimes. We joined a church. Took the courses needed to become members. There was a luncheon right after the second service we attended in October.

What Happened at the Luncheon?

My husband and I were introduced to the Assistant Executive Pastor. He found out what we both did for a living. (I began to hate that question as you can imagine.) As I went on to describe what I enjoyed about my last job he said, “You have to meet my sister-in-law!” I walk over to her and introduce myself and we immediately connected. She told me about her work and I saw this light in her that was filled with joy. I thought to myself, I have to check out what she does. The downer was that they don’t hire until spring time. She told me it wouldn’t hurt to just put in an application. So the next day I researched the website of the company and the day after that I applied. (That was mid-October)

It’s Now Start of November

I get a text from new friend who introduced me to the company saying “check your email!” I have my first interview set! I asked her how could this be? I thought they didn’t hire until spring time? Lo and behold, a position opened up and they decided they were going to expand the company by 2-3! Um…what!? So fast forward, I had 3 more interviews and fell in love with the whole team, what they valued and the culture was fitting.

It’s Now beginning of December

My husband has a meeting with 3 gentlemen that he had never met before and they don’t know me either. My husband talked about me and one gentlemen was taking down notes. They began to pack up and put their notepads away. Before they departed, one man asked deeper on what I do. My husband began to share what I enjoyed about my last job. The same man who was taking notes says “Wait a minute! Hold that thought right there.” He begins to pull out his notepad and flips to the page that he wrote “‘Wife? Webconnex” My husband and everyone at the table almost lost their jaws in awe of what just happened. A man who has never met me was going on to recommend a company to me that I already had interviewed for! Again…um what!? Turns out he knows one of the founders and while my husband was talking me up, this man thought of this company. That’s not the end of the story!

Did you get that Job?

I had my last interview the first week in December and a week later I get the final offer! Of course I said yes! A few days later I get this text message from my friend, here’s the real kicker, (the sister-in-law from the beginning of story) whom already works there:

“Lauren! _guy_ just came in and _guy #2_ saw him recently and he gave him the note _guy #2_ jotted down during the meeting with your husband!! So _guy_ shared that with a few of us at work…so cool!!!!! He has the receipt!”

“Lauren! _____ just came in and _______saw him recently and he gave him the note he jotted down during the meeting with (my husband)!! So ____ shared that with a few of us at work…so cool!!!!! He has the reciept!”

Wow! – He Has the Receipt

When I heard that…after the fact I already got the job, I now had confirmation from God that I am meant to be there. So to the man who prophesied over me, through my husband, from God…THANK YOU!

God is good and I hope you can see that. Coincidences or sense of knowing? 🙂 Stay tuned and leave a reply below to let me know how you’re liking my content.

Simply,

We best understand those when you know where they are coming from.

Diving in to my upbringing…In some cases what I am going to share with you about my race would not relate to politics or religion. However, race is important when I am defining for you all who I am to society. It pertains to what helped shape my perspective for the relevant topics I will talk about ahead.

I was raised in a small town in California. From a young age I learned very quickly that every family is different. My family is white and black. Therefore, I had two different cultures that I was exposed to. My mom’s side of the family being white, my dad’s side of the family being black. The color of my skin never was an issue until 2nd grade. Kids start to question if I was adopted and point out how I look nothing like my red-headed, white mama. While the questions and statements are valid, they still bothered me. I slowly began to feel very different and not “normal”. To the black community I wasn’t black enough and to the white community I was black. Fitting in was so hard and I think a huge reason I was and am still at times shy and hold back. At that age having questions like, how do I approach white girls so they know I can relate to them because I am white too? Or telling every person that asked (often), “I know I am tall and black but no, I don’t play basketball.” Let me be clear, this is not for pity this is what made me who I am and I am proud of who I am.

There was a point while growing up, I felt I did not connect with my black community. All I knew is I felt misunderstood. No one could understand the way I dressed, the way I wore my hair or the way I talked. Meanwhile, I lived in the same neighborhoods as them and my family was on food stamps like many of them. I would get comments like, “Before I knew you, I thought you were stuck up” or “Your hair is not real” then proceed to let everyone put their fingers in my hair so they believed me.

[Small tangent: In middle school, everything about a person is awkward but man…I will admit MY hair was rough! I did not know what to do with my half white half black head of untamed curls. I slicked that puppy back so hard my eyes could see from the back of my head.]

The point here is, it’s been a whirlwind being biracial in America. It’s a constant clash of culture happening outwardly and an internal battle as well. Many cannot tell what race I am. To me, I have one identity but to society I am this: A young black woman. Each of those words has a stigma. Black people and women are an under served population of people. Oh and being a millennial is just the straw that breaks the camel’s back. (#amiright?) We are quick to judge the cover of the book without opening it. This correlates with my view on politics which is why I had to share. For more on what its like growing up biracial, check out my sister-in-law’s YouTube video: Emily Fenner

I have been continuously placed in uncomfortable places. So here I am once again being completely vulnerable and uncomfortable with where I am at, what I am doing and uncertain of the outcome or the future. All of the examples I gave you, I persevered through the uncomfortable in order to learn more. It was not until I took a step back and took off my own lenses to see through a new lens. I was there to learn, listen and walk in other’s shoes before judging them even if they judged me first. My perspective on politics is equivalent. I’m certainly not perfect and know the world is not either. There are times we will all fail to live up to this standard of not judging someone before you know them. Politics has been this division of parties which divide the people. Calling people fruitcake/rightys/leftys for what they believe is unnecessary. We need the different opinions in order to run a democracy but the hateful language over social media has got to go. No one gained anything out of a heated Facebook argument and witnessing them inspired this blog. This is a space created to form and have healthy dialog where we are speaking from experiences and learning from one another. I challenge all of us to think about where your stance is and why.

It is possible to have healthy conversations about politics with people you don’t agree with. It is also very easy to have heated arguments that blow out of proportion. These are damaging and yet we learn the hard way from them don’t we? In the posts to come you will find politics in my perspective is different from yours. You may find they are the same. People with opposite thinking might just listen if you listen first. Midterms are right around the corner so stay plugged in for the next post titled, Election Day! I will share a little more about where I stand on the political spectrum.

I want to leave you with a couple of verses from the Bible:

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Let me know what you think!

Tag: grow

Story I- New Beginnings

Uncomfortable Spaces