Today is a big anniversary for me. Today, I mark five years of working for Target. It’s pretty crazy to think that five years ago, I walked into a distribution center (DC) in the middle of Illinois, just hoping for something a little more stable than newspaper work. Little did I know what it would turn out to be…

I didn’t really know what to expect when I walked into the distribution center for the first time. It was 1.5 million square feet of quiet. The building was brand new and there were no boxes, no cartons, no pallets. There were no reach truckis or chairots zipping around, no conveyor belt whirring and buzzing. There were times when I would explore the building and I was the only thing alive out on the floor.

Then the people came and everything changed. GLs and leaders filled the offices. My friends and I went to the patio everyday for lunch. I met my best friend as she was unloading boxes in the packing area. I summoned all my skills to create specialities in my media specialist office.  (My dreams were so small.) I thought all my dreams were coming true.

Of course, things didn’t stay that way for long. Everything changed. My job and my marital status changed. I asked God what to do next. He answered…using Target (again).

The perfect job opened up for me in Minneapolis and it was mine before I even knew it. Suddenly, I had a new job and enough money to move. I had a new life of corporate politics, cubicles and opportunities. (Not only that, but I happened to meet a pretty awesome man with a strikingly similar story :)) I started becoming the person God wanted me to be.

But I was so lonely. I knew the Lord was with me. I prayed for that to be enough, but it just didn’t feel like it was. I was heartbroken. But over time, I knew. God would speak to me. He would teach me and show me that he was enough. He is more than enough. He gave me the peace I had been searching for for the past 28 years.

It is honestly hard to believe that I’ve only been working for Target for only five years. They have been the most difficult, exciting, heart-wrenching and amazing years of my life. God used Target to bring experiences into my life to bring me to Him. To bring me back to Him. Thank you, Lord, for Target.  

This is the first of two special anniversaries I get to celebrate in January! The second anniversary is even more exciting than this one! More to come tomorrow…

(The opinions expressed in this blog are mine only and do not represent those of my employer.)