Why do I work at Costco?

I've been working at Costco for about five months now, and it's about time I blogged about how and why I took this job.  Back in March, I was walking down an aisle at Costco, minding my own business, shopping, not looking for a job. There was a woman standing by her food demo cart, talking about granola bars.  I didn't care about her granola bars, but I stopped to listen just to be polite. I had a bag of dried jackfruit in my cart, and she asked me if it was good.  I ripped open the bag and gave her a piece to try.  She said I was just the kind of person they were looking to hire and that I should apply.  She gave me the application info, and I said I would think about it and pray about it and talk to my husband.

I thought about it on the way home.  I prayed about it and got a clear yes from God.  I discussed it with Mike, and he wasn't against it.  So I applied, got an interview, passed a drug test, completed all the forms, and was working within a week.

A little background information.  All my life, I've loved animals more than people, and I've always felt guilty about it and asked God to help me love people.  For some reason, when I woke up on January 1, 2021, my heart was stuffed full of love for a person I had barely known previously, and from there I started being more able to love other people with God's love too.  So as the people are walking by my cart at Costco, I'm praying for them and interacting with them with genuine love. Sometimes it goes way beyond handing them a food sample.  I've had deep conversations with many people and had lots of opportunities to minister to them in various ways.  When I first started, we weren't handing out samples because of covid, so there was a lot of downtime that I filled with prayer and memorizing Bible verses. 

Overall, I love this job, and some days I actually can't wait to get there and see what opportunities God has for me.  On most days, there's at least one thing that happens, or one person I encounter that makes it clear to me that this was my purpose for being there that day.  Some days there are multiple of those.  Once in awhile, there are none.  There have also been difficult situations/people I've had to deal with, and some days I dread going in to work.  At those times, I've asked God if this is still my mission, and He always says definitely yes.  Knowing that I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing what He wants me to do makes it easy and a joy most of the time.  The promotion, raises and bonuses help too. Sometimes I can't believe they're paying me to do this. 

Yesterday I was handing out samples of ridiculously overpriced shampoo and conditioner.  I prayed, "Lord, people are suffering in Afghanistan and dying of a global pandemic.  Why do you have me here hawking hoity toity hair products?" and He said, "I have you there to pray about all those things and to love people."