Example: I have been in the Technical Support Industry for about 10 years now and not once, at any company I worked for, did I ever make it beyond Tier 2 in advancement. The one time I stepped beyond that level - as supervisor in the Support Center while at Radiant Systems, Inc. - I failed miserably and was demoted.

While working at Stream International (my introduction to Call Center's and Technical Support) I nearly lost my job due to excessive tardiness and absenteeism. Stream's disciplinary policy used a point system where after 12 or 13 points your employment was considered forfeit and you were terminated. Once you got a point there was no way to clear it. Rather than just fire me my supervisor, David Patterson, came to me and told me about my situation. I had 13.5 points! I can still feel that same sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I write this that I felt on that day. Miraculously, Stream had "just" started a "buy back" program where employees could begin to reduce the number of points accrued by changing their behavior and because I had not been absent or tardy recently (read - last week or so, maybe) he was going to have approved the removal of a point or two to keep me in the clear and he even got a schedule change pushed through so that it would be easier for me to get to work on time (special schedule changes rarely happened at Stream).

At that time, I was not putting God first and life was really getting me down. My job at Radiant Systems felt like it was suffocating me, my house was in complete disarray, Phaedra and I were fighting more and more frequently over things that didn't matter or had little to no direct control of and almost all of it because of me. I was even railing against God for the anguish in my life! I questioned everything my life, my faith, my marriage. Things had gotten beyond crazy. Although I had promised my mother and my wife that I had quit, I was still smoking at work and sometimes I would even try to hide it at home. I began medicating myself from the stress. I was on Zoloft for a year. I had even taken to drinking more frequently. It finally got to the point where my wife almost walked out on me and I found myself in front of an open doorway. On the one side I saw myself giving everything to God and on the other I watched my entire life and future walking right out the door. I convinced Phaedra to stay and made a decision right then to talk to our Pastor. The very next day was Wednesday and as I promised I went to church and spoke to Pastor Ronnie. I broke down in tears asking for help from a man I barely even knew! He prayed with Phaedra and I and asked me to call the church the following day and make an appointment to visit him that next Wednesday before services. That night, before I went to bed, I prayed to God and told him that I couldn't do it on my own and that I needed His help to get my life back in order. I prayed for guidance in my life, career, financial situation, my home, my family, everything. I gave it all to Him.

After I spoke to Pastor Ronnie and prayed to God giving everything over to Him, I turned in my two weeks notice to Doug. When I actually made my decision final I received a word from God telling me I would be blessed in 10 days. The 10th day was the last day of my employment with Radiant, June 29. On that day, praise God, I was truly blessed. I received more words of encouragement, thanks, blessings and well-wishing than I have ever received from any job as far as I can ever remember. Even my wife, although I had no job lined up beforehand, was completely supportive of my decision to leave. God provides for all who seek his Will. Prior to my leaving the company God provided me with a replacement so I would not be leaving an empty seat. Two weeks before I turned in my notice my friend, Wayne Dutton, who I worked with at Verio, contacted a group of us that he was looking for employment. He is now working for Radiant and when I spoke to Dan, the CSC trainer, last he said that he was very impressed with Wayne and fully expects him to succeed! This is truly a blessing from God!

I changed my tithing practices from "when I could" to being the first thing that comes out of my paycheck and since then our bills have begun to stabilize. I did forget to cancel all of my Bill Payment Schedules that I had set up which put me in the red to the tune of about $800 something dollars last week, but I prayed to God about it asking forgiveness for my mistake, cancelled all of the current schedules and asked Him that if it be His will that I have enough remaining after I got my last check from Radiant that I still have enough to give him what is His. Lo and behold, when I checked my bank account last Friday I had DOUBLE available. Not only did God see fit to provide me with enough that I could still give Him what was His, he left me with the same amount for myself! Praise Him!

While speaking with Phaedra this week (she has been at Disneyworld with her Mom, daughter and three nieces), she was telling me that God is working wonders for her group as well. When they got to Disneyworld they were informed that the hotel arrangements they had made had been changed unexpectedly and things looked like they weren't going to be as good as what they had expected. Phaedra and I prayed to God that things would be set right and what happened afterward can only be described as a miracle. When they arrived at the Hotel that they had been changed to, the person at the Front Desk informed them that they had won an upgrade package as part of the Disney Dreams Giveaway and were moved into the Hotel Orleans, an even better hotel than the first one they had originally booked. No Charge! Everywhere they turn someone is always there to help them. Sonja, the youngest, wandered off once and got lost. When Phaedra noticed she was missing, she stopped the group and turned around only to see a man kneeling down by Sonja, pointing at her and asking Sonja if this was who she was looking for! Phaedra said her niece couldn't have been lost for more than a couple of minutes but she hasn't wandered from the group since. She also told me that when the sun seemed to be getting unbearable she would pray to God for some relief and almost immediately clouds would roll in and a breeze would pick up cooling things down. She says that this has been the best time they have ever had at Disneyworld! Praise God!