That Time When God Spoke to Me Through a Subway Sub

The title of this post may be a bit misleading.  I don't literally think that God spoke to me through a sub.  It's not like a tomato was sitting a certain way and I thought, "Eureka!  Life is figured out!"  But I did have a profound experience at Subway today, and I think sometimes God works through little things to remind us of His truths.

Today was my first day of Professional Development at my new school.  In laymen's terms, that means all of the teachers get together and sit through boring meetings for a week in preparation for students to start school next week.  I am very nervous about this new school year - I'm going from teaching at a public school in Las Vegas last year to a SUPER conservative (aka can't even wear nail polish) Christian school in Kalamazoo this year.  Last year's school had 1000 kids; this year's school has 60.  I literally don't think I could find two schools more different if I tried.

Here's a fact you already know about me if you've known me for more than 10 minutes:  I don't like change.  I hate it.  I figure when I'm happy, why change anything?  I order the same thing at a restaurant every time.  I married my first serious boyfriend.  I've had more or less the same haircut for 15 years.  I don't like change.

At lunch today, some teachers decided to go to Subway.  My usual six-inch-turkey-on-Italian-herbs-and-cheese-with-lettuce-tomato-and-chipotle-mayo sounded pretty good to me. As I was standing in line, though, I got this crazy idea.  What if I ordered something different?  The thought popped into my head out of nowhere.  I don't know where it came from.  It actually kind of freaked me out.  I've ordered the same sub literally hundreds of times, but what if today I tried something new?  It was so weird and so unlike me.  Actually, when I said "I think I'm going to try something new today," one of the teachers from my school said, "Man, who are you??  That's not the Christine I met two weeks ago!"  Ha ha.  That's how fast people learn I'm a creature of habit.

Anyway, I went drastically different on my lunch choice.  I ordered buffalo chicken.  The person asked what vegetables I wanted on it, and I freaked out.  "I don't know!" I wailed.  "I've never ordered this before!"  The other teachers laughed at me, but it's okay.  I really didn't know what to do.

When I finally made my choice (spinach, green pepper, tomato, onion, and ranch), I sat down nervously to try my new concoction.  I took a tentative bite, and guess what?

It was good.
It was really good.
It was very possibly even better than what I usually order.

Suddenly I was struck with an understanding: sometimes change is okay.  Sometimes it's even good.  Sometimes it's even better than what you had before.  Not always, but it's possible.  To be completely honest, that's not even something I considered about my new school.  I spent so much time missing my school in Vegas that I hadn't been able to get at all excited about my school here.  But today I finally thought, "Maybe it won't be so bad.  Maybe it will even be good.  Perhaps - and I'm going out on a limb here - but maybe it will even be better than what I had before."

It's really pretty pathetic, but I can honestly say that that's the first time I thought that.  It was just a reminder to me that God has plans for me and He promises never to leave us or forsake me.  He's not hanging me out to dry - He's bringing me to whatever place He wants me next.  Bottom line: it's all going to be okay.

And yes, I got that all from a Subway sub.  A pretty good $4.51 investment if I do say so myself.