Memoir of a New Barista

The way to my current job was not an easy one. One reason it was hard, however, is the fact that the economy continued to be a difficulty for me at every which way. My current job might not be one's typical career, but it is on the road to whatever lies ahead.

I currently work at a coffee shop, and I am training to become an official barista. I have been at this job for almost a month. Although I have not gained many hours, I consider myself very blessed to have this job. If it was not in God's plan, I might not have landed even this one.

The way to this job was long and hard. It took me a little over six months to even land it. Interestingly enough, this was the one and only offer I ever got within my entire six months of searching. Thankfully, it also turned out to be the best one as well.

I am a recent college graduate, so I already had little job experience as it is. I had spent my entire college career focusing on writing, foreign language, and running. I left little time to find work, because I allowed school to be my main focus. I had spent two summers in a row studying German far away from my current home.

I graduated with little knowledge on this thing called job searching. It took me that entire six months to catch up with those around me on how to even search for a job.

I applied almost everywhere I could. In time I had improved both my resume and my ability to fill out applications. It took much longer, however, to learn how to be in an interview.

Most of the interviews I had gone through had turned out badly. I felt very shy and unsure of myself at first. Also, deep inside of me, I felt the fear of actually getting any of these jobs I had interviewed for. Many of them did not respect my conviction to always showing up to church on Sundays. Because of my convictions, I had been criticized and rejected for requesting my Sunday mornings off, even though I was open to every other part of the day. I had also realized that these jobs did not offer the best atmosphere or job experience in general.

Throughout this frustrating time, I had to turn to God. The simplest part was the time spent praying. My family, friends, and I all did this for awhile. It eventually led to me praying that God would give me a job that would honor Him the most. It was about the time that I had lost much hope that things had finally changed. God worked through all the confusion, and He gave me a job that had both honored Him and helped me.

Near the end of December, I had received two phone calls for an interview with two different places. One supplied benefits to its part-time workers while the other did not. The first interview I had was with the one that did not. The second one did.

Both of these interviews were conducted around the peak of my ability to be interviewed. They were also around the holidays, which meant that I had spent less time on job searching than before. I thought that I would hear from one of these jobs by the end of the week, which was just around New Year's Day. I heard nothing, and I had then lost all hope. I had even felt the least fear about possibly becoming a barista.

The interview at the coffee shop had gone extremely well. My desire for the job was not only high, but my peace about it was at its highest. I really believed that this was where God wanted me. I almost wondered if I had heard wrong when the end of the week had come with no reply.

It was at the end of that week that I had left my trust to God in a way that I will not write here. I had, however, illustrated my trust by simply following something that God had put in my heart. Little did I know that the next day, God would honor that in a way I did not expect.

It was the beginning of the first full week of January. Although it was unknown to me, God had done two things during that time. First, He allowed one lady I know to ask God that I would receive a job on that very day. Second, He allowed a close friend of mine to ask that God would answer some prayers to help her friends see Him work. Both of those prayers were answered that morning.

I had a tremendous wake up call. The coffee shop had called literally right when I woke up. They had offered me a job, and I accepted it immediately. It turned out to be a wonderful day after that.

I now have a job that not only gives me my Sunday mornings, but it also gives me most of my entire Sundays completely off. The atmosphere is a blessing, because we are taught to help one another and respect each other at this job. I also feel the calmest here, since my body responds the best to the atmosphere of a typical coffee shop. I also believe that whatever skills I build here might be used later in my life in whatever God plans next.

The story of how I got my job is not a typical one. Outside of the current economy, calling a job outside of one's field is not generally what one might call a blessing. I consider the circumstances, and I see where I am currently placed. It is was the best job I could get compared to the other places where I had been interviewed. This one is a perfect fit to begin my step into real life. God is pretty amazing, is He not?