Tuesday 4~ Your Jobs

That does look a lot like me back in the day

 Your Jobs

Annie says: "Hello! It's time again for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 and I am happy you stopped by to join in.
This week's idea for questions came from Pamela Steiner and it's all about your occupation and work.
I think that's a great idea, so here are questions for you to ponder."


1.What did/do you do for work and how long did you work in that position?

You can see the full list in question #4, but my last job, which also was the longest one in one location and the place from which I finally retired, was as the Financial Administrator for a large church. My position entailed full responsibility for all bookeeping/accounting for the church, payroll, human resources, and supervision of other office and custodial staff. I worked there for almost six years before retiring.  It was a very involved and detailed position, and I prayed daily for God's wisdom and guidance and assistance in managing all of the responsibilities appropriately.  There were some days I literally went home wondering "Why Me, Lord?" when things got very complicated and I often felt like I was overwhelmed with the tasks before me.  But God always got me through it and gave me strength to keep going when I really wanted to quit.

  

One verse that sustained me was Philippians 4:13, NKJV,

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

2. Of the jobs you've had throughout life, which was your favorite? If no favorite,which was the worst? Tell us why you loved/hated your job.

My most favorite "job" was being wife to my hubby and Mom to my three sons. I was very thankful that during the early years when our boys were small we managed somehow for me to not have to work outside of the home.  Oh, also remember, my hubby was a pastor for many years, and so one of my main "jobs" was being a "Pastor's Wife". That, in itself, can be a full time job, and sometimes it becomes difficult to balance home-wife with Pastor's Wife. Especially when members of the church have their own ideas of what a "Pastor's Wife" ought to be. I had to learn when to say yes, and when to say no. Not always easy.

My "Favorite Job"

As you can see, this was a full time job with many rewards and benefits!

My worst job?  Hmmm, Probably when I worked in the Testing Department of the county school board. We had moved back to Florida to be near our aging parents, and I needed to 'get my foot in the door' with the county schools, so I took the job of sorting, filing, packing and delivering test booklets for all the schools in the district. I was younger then than I am now, and was in pretty good condition, but not for the repetitive motion and lifting of all that testing material, especially when they decided to move the whole department to a new location and I had to pack, unpack, rearrange, move, lift, over and over again...I ended up with a major case of very painful carpal tunnel and could not work, so I filed a worker's comp claim. Thankfully, I got better once the hard physical labor stopped, and I was able to transfer to a much better job as a school bookkeeper! So all's well that ends well.

3. What did your job entail? Did it require a special education?

Most of the jobs I did were learned "on the job".  However, when I worked as a "para-professional" in the school system, I did have to have so many hours of college credits and take a state "para-professinal" exam. Thankfully I passed.  Although I never received a degree, I did take a lot of college courses throughout the years, some online.

4. List all the jobs/occupations you have had.

How far back shall I go?  

Well, let's see...the summer I was almost 15 my cousin Becky and I got jobs at Zellwood Farms, sorting green peppers. We stood at a conveyor belt and watched hundreds of green peppers come bouncing along toward us all day while we quickly sorted them for size and whether or not they were good or bad, etc.  I remember dreaming about green peppers, like Martians, marching after me all night long! LOL. We did that for about a week and probably made about $40.00, and we thought we were so rich! LOL.  The only other thing I remember about that was there were a lot of Spanish speaking migrants working there, and one man asked me if I could help him learn to speak English because I was taking Spanish in high school.  We had several conversations with me trying to use what little Spanish I knew. It was an interesting experience.  However, I was thankful that I didn't have to do that job for the rest of my life!  

Internet Photo

During my senior year in high school I worked part time at a Dry Cleaners for a while. That was another job that I am glad I didn't have to do for the rest of my life.  Think about cleaning out people's pockets and also handling some very dirty (and smelly!) clothes...Yuck! I didn't do that for long, thank the Lord!

The summer after I graduated high school I worked as a counselor at a church youth camp. Actually, I volunteered. But my room and board was taken care of and it was a very wonderful summer, where I fully rededicated my life to serving Christ, and made some big decisions about my future that changed the whole course of my life.

When we first got married, I worked in the accounting department of a large insurance company, while hubby finished his senior year of college, working on his Bachelor's degree in Education. That would be my first experience in accounting, and although I was never a good math student in school, I found that I liked accounting and bookkeeping, and that ended up being one of my main jobs throughout my life, in different places (mainly in schools and also at a Christian camp and a large church) as we moved about later in the ministry. 

I also worked as a "teacher's aide", a.k.a. a "para-professional in schools, which served me well while our kids were in school and I could have the same hours and school schedule as they had.

Another occupation that I found helpful during our years in the ministry and/or seminary was in sales.  I was once a Stanley Home Products representative and gave parties to demonstrate and sell home cleaning products.  Then I also sold Watkins products and became a District Manager with the Fuller Brush Company for a while. 

When we lived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in a very busy resort area, I created my own company known as T.O.P.S. =Temporary Office Personnel Services.  Basically, I offered my temporary services to a resort to help out in their busy accounting department, and ended up working there full time. That also led to working in that same resort as the supervisor of the housekeeping department, managing the busy scheduling of making sure rooms were cleaned and inspected on time each day, etc.  That also led to working with another private company as their marketing and scheduling person, which also led to working with them in another venture of scheduling horseback rides at a local Bed and Breakfast. Life was never dull. Here is a link to when I worked at the Stables at "The Farm by the River"    Here's a picture to give you a better idea of what I was doing:

This might have been one of my most favorite jobs, except for shoveling the "horse poop". LOL.

This list is not necessarily in any order, but basically an overview of the kinds of work I did throughout my adult years. Because we were in the ministry, often serving in smaller churches that did not pay very well, (and moving more frequently than I care to enumerate) I found whatever jobs I could do to help supplement our income. I also worked as the church secretary, typing bulletins, etc., in several places where my hubby was the pastor.

All in all, I am very thankful for all the creative ways that God provided for us throughout the years. When there was no job to be found, I created my own, by God's grace and wisdom.  When I was needed at home to take care of our young children, God provided for us, often miraculously, when hubby was in Seminary preparing for the ministry.  When we moved more often than was probably wise, but we felt we had no other choice at the time, God always provided a job for me somewhere, even though my resume' probably looked like a pin ball machine of hit and miss and crazy moves.  

I was looking for a Scripture that would go along with this whole long story of the changes and moves and years of so many different jobs, and these selected verses from Psalm 26 seemed to speak to what I was feeling, because sometimes people just don't understand how someone could move so many times or do so many jobs, but it has all been done in service to the Lord in one way or the other...

26 

1 "Vindicate me, O Lord,

For I have walked in my integrity.

I have also trusted in the Lord;

I shall not slip.

2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me;

Try my mind and my heart.

3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.

6 I will wash my hands in innocence;

So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,

7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,

And tell of all Your wondrous works.

8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house,

And the place where Your glory dwells.

11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;

Redeem me and be merciful to me.

12 My foot stands in an even place;

In the congregations I will bless the Lord."

And here is a song that expresses how I feel about all the ways God provided for us throughout the years..."Great is Thy Faithfulness"...

Philippians 4:19 NKJV

19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

If you want to join in the fun of telling about your life's occupation(s), you can join in HERE. Thanks, Annie, for another great week of Tuesday 4 questions!