The Roaring 20's: Reflection of my Preparation Year's pt. 2

I will be turning 30 in September and I am so excited. My hubby would say, "We are in a good place and it is only going to get better!" Right now we are pretty young, married with no children yet! We have a great relationship with Christ and highly active in the church. We make good money, almost 6 figures. We are givers. College educated, I have my Master's in Educational Leadership and he is completing his Master's in Non-profit Admin. We have great careers in the non-profit field and we are growing together through Christ everyday! I have a small business I am hoping will get bigger and I just enjoy life, traveling and stuff! So I feel like we have a great foundation that will be great as I enter this next decade of life.

As I said before, my twenties was just preparation for the future. I am excited about my future.

When I turned 21, I was participating in the Walt Disney World College Program and they worked us like um, yea they worked us. We had to pay our own rent, buy our own food, buy our own household items and other things. I made $7.25 an hour! So I made about $350 before taxes a week. For me, I was serious about getting my education on, so I signed up for online classes to take while I was in Orlando and got some extra money to live off of. While I was there I met a girl (No Names) who was a virgin and was so serious about her walk with God. She was so inspirational to me. We became great friends. She actually was from Louisiana and that was August 23, 2005. We had just been there for I think a week or two and this happened. She was devastate, she couldn't go home for a while. She was able to to speak to her family that survived, their house though was under water. But through it all she gave me my first lesson in my twenties:

• Lesson 1: Stay faithful to God despite what you go through. She was a really strong influence in my life. I do not think I ever told her either. But the way she stayed true at such a young age and not question God really helped me stay somewhat close to God. God is so faithful to us even when we do wrong. Just imagine the blessings and favor God will have on you when you also stay faithful to him no matter what the situation looks like. 

My mom really did not let us celebrate Halloween. People may say that it is not an evil "holiday" but I feel that halloween is a gateway to some real evil and perverted ways. I was so glad to have my friend from Louisiana because we both did not celebrate Halloween. But some of my other friends wanted to go out anyways so I just went out which brings me to my next lesson:

• Lesson 2: The devil and his lil minions and demons are real. That night some spirit crept on me and I had my first real encounter and it was so scary. All I remember thinking was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I kept thinking that and I guess I fell asleep and woke up. If you allow even an inch the enemy will pounce on it! So I began to really see evil and the good! 

My work place at Disney World was at Disney Quest- a 5-Story virtual amusement park. Best place ever. This program brought people from all over the world and I met some really cool people and I am sad to say I do not have their contact info and cannot remember first and last names :(  but the next lesson I learned:

• Lesson 3: Get out the box! Of course people tend to flock to what they are familiar with and never really explore differences. My co-workers, an older lady, an awkward black girl just like myself, this cool white guy and many more cool people. We would go and enjoy the parks together. One day, two of them were like let's go see a movie. I was like sure which movie? They said "Walk the Line". I was like what is that? They were like you don't know who Johnny Cash is? I was like nope! During the movie, I was like huuhhhh what is this!!!! And I was eating little squids and was grossed out! But let me tell you! Ring of Fire is like one of my most "favoristist" songs and I love calamari! See what getting outside of the box, the norm and yourself will expose you to! 

After I completed the Walt Disney Program, I went to visit my grandparents for a couple of days in a little town called Plant City! My grandmother took me to see the ocean for the first time. It was amazing. 

I moved back in with my mommy and she bought Malik my little cousin a dog. THE CUTEST AND SWEETEST dog in the world. I started school and bounced from job to job until I landed on one that I really enjoyed. 

• Lesson 4: Hard work pays off. As I worked at the Walt Disney World college program, I learned how to really work. Having good work ethics is a must. I was able to get a lot of little jobs because of my experience, I was able to put in words during interviews and they were wowed! They were wowed by my hard work and commitment, I could have easily quit but nope! Went out on my own and owned that experience. 

Well stay tuned for more of my life lessons from my twenties! It was just preparation for my future.

Thank you for reading! 

Cicely Renee