The Decade in Review - Part 3

And the story goes on…. Are you still with me? lol


So, I forgot to mention in my last post that very shortly after starting with the County I was moved up to the Administration offices of my district. I was there for about 7 months when my boss asked if she could recommend me for a position at DPSS’ Headquarters—about 40 miles away in the City of Industry. About 2 days prior to her asking me, I had asked God to get me out of Dodge. I was ready for a change. Well, He answered my prayer. The moment she asked me and I said yes, I new in my heart that I would get the position… This was before I even went on the interview.

In August of 2005, I packed up all my stuff, moved in with Dad in Pomona (20 minutes away from work), and reported to the Specialized Supportive Services Section. This was the best career decision I had made up to that point and one of the best life decisions too. Not only did my move lead to promotion, but it also got me on the road back to the Lord.

Before moving, I had already started to attend church more regularly than I had in a long time. The Lord was re-entering my life slowly, but surely. So, when I got to Pomona, the Holy Spirit was laying it on my heart to find a church home. I even randomly had a tech guy tell me I needed to find a church. Despite all these clear messages though, it took me about a year before I finally went searching.

Finally--I’m sure after some sort of heartache in my life--I hopped online and searched for churches nearby. The first church I found was Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley (CCCV). It was literally around the corner and down the street. I decided to check it out. I went by myself and almost from the first visit, I was in love. It was a large church, but if felt like a welcoming community. On my second visit, I found out that the Church and I had the same exact birthday: July 26, 1981. I knew I had found my church.

Of course, I still wasn’t fully committed at this time and, even though I was attending church weekly, I was still going out and “having fun” with friends back in the Valley and with a new friend—my boss of all people. The woman was twice my age, but partied like a rockstar. We had some good times, but we also had some tense times.

Advice: Don’t party with or have a close friendship with a boss, I don’t care how cool they seem; it will ALWAYS affect work somehow. Trust me!

Anyway, being that I worked with almost all people 10 years or more my senior, I wasn’t able to make too many friends at work and hadn’t made any friends in my area or at church. I’m shy and it’s hard for me. So I was constantly feeling lonely and as a result, I was driving down to the Valley a lot to see my family and friends… still getting into shenanigans.

Late 2006 and into 2007 was a crazy time for me. Sandy had been dating a new guy, Juan, who we knew and weren’t sure we approved of. I went out with them a couple of times and found that I actually liked Juan. Lucky for him, because not too long after we found out that Sandy was pregnant. *sigh* That was stressful because I think we subconsciously started being scared we were going to lose Sandy from our lives. Then on top of that stress I was involved as a bridesmaid in Misty’s wedding. All of it was stressful, but it was also happy times.

A little after the wedding and for my 26th birthday I decided to do a trip to Las Vegas. I wanted it to be a fun, relaxing trip for me and a select few girls in my life. I got a 2-room, 2-bath condo about 2 miles from the Strip on my own dime so that the girls wouldn’t have to worry about that expense. All I asked for was no drama. That didn’t happen. From the beginning there were snags in everything and it just ended up being a horrible trip and horrible birthday. What resulted from all the drama was 1) my family and closest friend thinking that I was depressed to the point of alcoholism and maybe even suicide (so not the case—long story), and 2) the loss of my best friend because of a stupid, pointless argument from a complete misunderstanding.

Things were sucking hardcore and I was ready to just purge all negativity from my life and start over. Misty wasn’t the only friend that I walked away from at that time. I also dumped Ramon. His infantile girlfriend had dumped him and his dad was dying, so he reached out to me, and as usual, I jumped right in to pick up the pieces. I was there for him when his dad finally passed and tried to nurse his wounds. How was I repaid? I was taken for granted and treated as second best all over again. I had finally had enough and I told Ramon that our friendship was over. He tried to apologize, but in the end was not able to see everything he had put me through all those years. I was over it.

Life was feeling horrible at this point, and right when you are down and out, in the gutter, at your worst, and broken, well, THAT’S when the Lord is able to really work with you and in you…