Listening

Several years ago, a frustrated quality inspector was having lunch with a friend and blowing off some steam (aka, ranting). Somewhere in the midst of the 20 min, one-sided conversation, the quality inspector said something like "I wish they'd just come in and shut this place down so I could go back to school and be done with all this crap!".
Fast forward a couple of years... a single mom (who happens to work as a quality inspector) is told to help gather everyone up and meet outside in the parking lot for a meeting. "The parking lot???", she thought. "This can't be good". Once everyone was outside they were joined by a very weary looking plant manager, a tearful HR manager, and a "big wig" who looked like someone had ran over his dog. The single mom could only process bits and pieces of the meeting..."closing", "December", "sorry"... All the other words were drown out by the panicing voices in her head. "You are going to lose your house!" "You can't make ends meet NOW, how are you going to provide for the girls with no job?!" Tears were all she had for the next few hours.
But later that afternoon... A stubborn little redneck girl (aka: quality inspector/single mom) got MAD! There was absolutely NO way she was going to let "some little sawed off yankee" come in there and knock her down like that! She would show them! She would show all of them! She would go back to school, get her degree, and never allow someone to walk in and pull the world out from under her again!!! So she called the plant manager and said "if you need me, I'm in my office using the company's internet to get the ball rolling for school". The pm's response "Good girl! Use anything you want." :)
Everything happened quickly after that. There was a whirlwind of faxes, applications, tests, meetings, and finally orientation. She drove to the campus that morning feeling all the things a 30 something would feel when going back to school. But her excitement was taken away by an "advisor" who told her to change her major. "Nursing school is VERY hard to get into. They ONLY accept 70 students a year and right now we have 1900 students that have nursing down as their major." :( Wow...70 a year, based on GPA :( This girl wasn't dumb by any means, but she was never a straight A student. But instead of being discouraged, she got MAD again! "Who does that woman think she is?!?! If I want in nursing school, I will GET in nursing school! It may kick my butt in the process but I'll do it!". (the girl in this story is a little spunky if you couldn't tell)
Time marched on and true to their word, the plant closed on December 16th, 2009. It was such a sad day. The plant manger who had now become her best friend/father figure helped her pack up her office and carry everything to her car. They both cried and he talked about how worried he was for her but how proud he was that she was had already designed her budget around her unemployment check and the way she had taken everything. They were talking about how long she would draw unemployment and the single mom told him "if I can just draw long enought to get into nursing school then I don't care to get a job. But holding down a 4.0 gpa with 2 kids is going to be hard! Once I get in I will be able to concentrate on a job".
June 29, 2011: The former quality inspector/single mom (of 3 now)/redneck/college student went to the career center to see about getting into the Alliance for Business and Training program to help pay some of her nursing school expenses. In the past 2 years, the career center had been a little less than helpful and it was a visit she was not looking forward to. She decided to run in, get the information, check on the status of her unemployment, and get out. Little did she know that morning that God was getting ready to open a cloud and pour even more blessing out on her! By the end of the day, she learned that she did qualify for assistance with AB&T, and SHE was 1 of the 70 people who had been selected to join the nursing program!!! Not only did she get in and was she going to get help with some of the expenses...her unemployment was extended for an additional 20 weeks!!! Not only did she get to draw long enough to get into the program, she will get to draw for the majority of her first semester!!!
As the walking-on-air woman went to bed that night, she laid awake in total awe of everything the Lord had done for her. HE had taken what could have been a horrible experience and turned it into something that could only be described as amazing. HE had listened to her every wish and made them all come true for her. HE showed her that she CAN do all things through Him. HE even thought to include two new best friends that are good christian woman to walk through nursing school with her!! And most of all HE showed her that even when she thought she was just ranting...HE was always listening :)