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In His Time

 

We all have our dreams and wishes. And we want everything that we think we need and want immediately. But God knows better. He sees the big picture and knows that although we want something ver-r-r-y badly, that the cosmic timing isn’t quite right yet.

 

Jim and I were lucky enough to quit our jobs earlier than most retirees to travel around the country for three years in our motorhome. We got to see the most amazing and picturesque natural wonders, from this country’s first national park, Yellowstone, to hidden treasures found in Hagerstown, ID, with 1,000 springs at the Nature Conservancy. Traveling through Glacier National Park, on different days and different times taught us how different the same view can appear, under different circumstances. Jim’s photographs, although awesome, couldn’t begin to capture the reality of the experience. But they do trigger our memories to times that neither one of us will ever forget.

 

After spending several months as camp hosts at Bryce Canyon National Park located in southern Utah, we made our way to Quail Run RV Park in Arizona City. We arrived and started our assignment as workampers with the activities department in trade for our full hook-up camp site, until the day that Jim didn’t feel well and ended up at Casa Grande Regional Medical Center (CGRMC), suffering from a heart attack. The management of Quail Run asked us to leave immediately the day he arrived home from the hospital. I paid for a week to give him time to recover and a fellow camper drove us to Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort, where I convinced the management to hire me to work in registration and the Pro Shop, even though they never used a “workamper” before. Everything was fine for 2 years, until we decided to buy a park model and settle down here. According to the management, they could no longer use me as a workamper, because I was an annual resident, and from a “banking” stand point it wasn’t in their financial interest to give me an annual site, in exchange for volunteering.

 

Jim recovered from his angioplasty and stent surgery, but it was still a serious health issue, and not being able to purchase an insurance policy that would cover his “pre-existing” condition, I had to find a job that had a big group plan that would not exclude him or this possible heart medical problems.

 

I was so impressed with the excellent response that Jim received at the hospital that I applied there to work in any clerical position they had available. I finally got a call from Cindy W., explaining that they would have an opening in the near future as a receptionist for a newly hired orthopedic surgeon. This hospital is unique, in that they have some doctors on staff that are employees of the hospital and Cindy was responsible for staffing for those doctors. I had an interview that went really well and I felt my background processing billing for four orthopedic surgeons as well as receptionist and billing for an internist, along with reception work in the non-medical field, qualified me as an excellent candidate for the position. She agreed. She said that I would definitely be someone they would want to hire, but the doctor would not be starting for several weeks yet.

 

I said that, that would not be a problem and I would be willing to wait. As the weeks went by, and I already gave my notice in at a retail job that didn’t deliver on the medical benefits as promised, I e-mailed Cindy to get an update.

 

Her response blew me away. I wasn’t prepared to hear that someone from within the hospital had applied for the position and they always give priority to current employees. She stated that she would forward my resume and application to every department in the hospital that she felt would be a good fit for me. Several weeks went by and again I wrote her only to learn there was a hiring freeze for now.

 

I took a job with a new Dillard’s because that was the only job that didn’t tell me I was over qualified, but the hours were horrible and constantly changing. The medical coverage wasn’t good either and was VERY expensive, but at least we had coverage.

 

I would ask God, “Why me God? I’m a good person. Perhaps that person needed the job, but so did I.” I went on with my life and six-months went by knowing that the hospital HR guidelines state that they only keep applications on file for six months and then they are destroyed. So my hopes of working at the hospital were dashed.

 

One night Jim and I were talking. He knew how hard I was working at the retail job and mentioned that he even felt guilty about it. But we both knew that we needed the insurance. I described my ideal job. I said that it would be as a receptionist, because every receptionist job I ever held, I truly loved. It required me to greet people, hopefully brighten their day and traffic them to their proper location. I told Jim that I would like to work in the health field, but not in a regular doctor’s office with infectious, sick patients, but something like x-ray, where people have suffered injuries or non-infectious problems.

 

Well . . . from my mouth to God’s ears. Not two weeks later, I received a call from the head of the HR department at CGRMC. She explained that she had an opening for a receptionist position in the Medical Imaging department. Yup! a.k.a. the X-ray department. She asked if I would be interested? I assured her that I definitely was. She explained that the date on the application she had from me was dated April of 2007. This was now April of 2008. She asked if I could supply her with an updated application.

 

“No problem. I will fax it to you tomorrow,” I happily responded. After an interview later that week with the supervisors of the radiology department, I got the job, pending the results of a physical and background check. 

 

When I went to the hospital owned facility for my pre-employment drug test, etc., I explained to the Nancy, the RN, that I expected to start work last September for a new orthopedic doctor, but I got bumped by a hospital employee.

 

Her response shocked and delighted me. She explained, “You are lucky you didn’t get that job. That doctor didn’t even last six months and his leaving was NOT on good terms. Be happy that you didn’t have to go through that non-sense.”

 

That day my prayer went from “Why me Lord?” to “Thank You God!” Yes, it was in my best interest for my prayer to be answered In His Time.

 

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