Blessings Unseen (My New Family)
The Communications and Development team at The Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital (missing a few others)
Blessings Unseen (My New Family)
I have written about going through tests a few times since I launched this blog because I really want my audience to understand why it is important to pass these tests from God.
James 1:2-4 says: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
If you’ve been following my blog, I wrote a piece a few months ago titled Worrier to Warrior in which I explained how God tested me when I lost my job late February this year. I was riding high at the time. My faith was growing stronger, I was beginning to figure out what my purpose is, I had just won a public relations award for designing and implementing an intranet, I had just returned from Ghana after a wonderful Christmas with my ENTIRE family, and I had just celebrated my 27th birthday with my first brand new car.
It was a tough test, but I was prepared to face it because I knew what His word said about trials and tribulations. Even though God tested me by taking away something that I thought I couldn’t survive without (my job), I put my trust in Him, and allowed Him to work through me. He saw me through.
At the time, I knew the blessing was coming, but I didn’t understand its magnitude even though it clearly says I would be made perfect and complete in James 1:2-4. I passed the test, and God blessed me with a new job that has been such a perfect fit for me. It has truly been a blessing working at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital.
See, when I was blessed with my new job at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital, I was aware of the obvious blessing: He had taken something away from me and blessed me with something better. He knew I was ready to make an impact somewhere else. He wanted me at an organization that was established on the same values and beliefs that resonate with who I am becoming as a man. Those were the obvious blessings.
But what if I told you God had unlocked other blessings I didn’t even notice? What if I told you God had unlocked blessings waiting for me at a future time? What if I told you one of the reasons God allowed my job to be taken away in February was because He knew what I was going to go through in June? What if I told you I was truly lacking in nothing just by passing the test?
If you’ve been following my “The June I Don’t Remember” series, you know the story of what I went through in June. Many companies would have given up on me after spending an entire month in the hospital. I had only been at this new job for a month and a half. I had no paid time off (PTO) to use, and I don’t think I had proven myself yet to be out of work that long. Many organizations would have been fed up and moved on especially with how unpredictable my stay in the hospital was. I’ve worked places where being sick and out of work for one day was a taboo.
Not the team at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital. They were God sent.
The entire staff at the Hospital played a vital role in my recovery. I worried a lot, and even missing just a few days of work weighed heavily on me. When I found out I had an infection, I was even more devastated because I thought I would be out of work too long to keep my job.
What I didn’t know was God had already taken care of it. He had blessed me already. He had this blessing waiting for me in June. That’s the awesome part about passing tests. We see and witness the obvious blessings, but God opens up the heavens and pours out so many other blessings waiting for us in the future. It was obvious God had blessed me with a great new job, but at the time, only He knew what was going to happen to me in June.
The team at work and staff at the Hospital were there for me throughout the entire process. They checked on me every day, brought me goodie bags, spent money when they didn’t need to, sent me videos to cheer me up when I was down, and most importantly, they prayed for me every single day. I know they did because they told me they were praying for me. They would always find a way to make my stay in the hospital a little better each day. That makes a difference when you’re admitted for a month.
When I got out of the hospital, my dad showed me his text message thread with my manager, Melissa. It was a long text thread of Melissa and the rest of the team constantly checking on me. It was probably the longest text thread on my dad’s cell phone. I had no idea he knew how to text.
God also knew what He was doing when Melissa and the rest of the communications team met my lady, Kristina at the company picnic a day before I was admitted. Because she had met them already, the relationship with my team members was seamless. At one point, it felt like Kristina was getting to know the team better than I did because she was really my main point of contact. I mean I wasn’t jealous or anything (just a little). They would check on me through her and she would call or text Melissa to keep her updated often. A month later, Kristina and my dad still talk about my managers and co-workers at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital as if they were best friends. The team at work does the same. Sometimes I wonder when those relationships blossomed, and then I remember I was half asleep in a hospital bed for 30 days.
The CEO of The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital visited me twice with his wife. Really? What CEO of an organization with over 500 employees would go to the hospital TWICE to check on ONE employee?
My point here is this: when God took me through my test of taking away my job and blessing me with another, it wasn’t just because He believed I was ready for bigger and better things, it was also because He could see things no one else could see. He already knew Richard was going to be in the hospital for the entirety of June. That is why He is God, and that is why we just need to trust Him through the difficult times. Sometimes, the trials we go through are even for our own good, but we don’t know it.
Little did I know He was also blessing me with a new family. A family that cares about me more than just as a co-worker. A manager that cares about me as a person, and a CEO who cares about every single employee working at the Hospital.
I dedicate this blog to my manager –Melissa Richey, Heidi Russell, Shannon Carr, Heather Walter, Amy Coldren, and everyone in the Communications and Development department. I also dedicate this to CEO Albert Gray and the entire administrative team.
To everyone at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital, I say thank you and God bless you for the support and prayers.
If you’re reading this and going through a test, just trust God and remember when you have passed the test, He is going to bless you in ways you cannot even fathom. He will keep using the same blessing over and over again to bring glory to His name. He will open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing upon life, you won’t have room enough to store it. You will be made complete and lack nothing. He did it for me, and He will do it for you.
Also remember God’s timing is everything. He's not a second too early or late. If God had waited till July before He activated the test of losing my job, I would not be where I am today. I still have an amazing job, and I now have a new family. A group of people I will cherish forever. I truly love The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital and everyone I work with.