Okay, so we must start with the idea of provision. The Lord literally aligned the stars this summer to make it possible for me to be in Nashville. He provided a house, a car, and an income courtesy of Nissan and my extended family. The Lord knew that those were the things I needed to make this summer possible and provided because He is intentional and had me there for a reason. Quick note, provision has not always looked like this for me. Often times it is way more subtle, but I am grateful to witness to how He can make a way in this regard.
So, let’s back up. I was offered the job at Nissan last November, so the idea of my summer in Nashville had been on my mind for a while before I arrived. At the start, I was filled with lots of excitement but also a little bit of nervousness and some sadness because I would be away from my people. But I packed up and made the move knowing very little about anything that I was about to be getting myself into. I just prayed that the Lord would help me build community in a new place and bring clarity for my future. He did both those things, and a lot of other things too.
I knew I was working at a Nissan location near Nashville but I wasn’t sure exactly where. For all I knew, I was going to be working at the dealership down the road from my aunt and uncle. I never actually looked up the address of my office. Also, lets just take a minute to appreciate the fact that I thought the engineering part of the auto industry happened at the same location that the car is sold. Very false. I quickly learned that I would be working at the Smyrna plant. I pulled out my gps, as one does, and was surprised to see that the plant was an hour away from my aunt and uncles’ house. A fun commute, if I do say so myself.
Plus, I was totally surprised by what I was doing. I generally knew that I would be working with quality engineering but couldn’t tell you the first thing about that. My boss could have told me that I was going to be the crash dummy and I would have been like “yeah, that sounds about right”. As it turns out, I was not the crash dummy. Instead, I spent the summer working with recalls and dealer actions and campaign implementation. I can tell you more about it if you’d like, but I’m guessing that the majority of you already know more than you want to.
As the first few weeks rolled by, I was getting used to my job but was having a hard time finding friends so I struggled with a lot of loneliness. I went home one of the first few weekends to celebrate my sisters graduation and that brought a nice sense of familiarity, but I knew I would be heading back to Tennessee. The weeks felt very monotonous. I would leave the house just after 6am, work all day, and then arrive back at the house around 6pm to eat dinner, entertain myself for a few hours, and go to bed early so that I could do it all again the next day.
bearclaw! 