Change This Something Normal, Into Something Beautiful

That is a chorus in one of my favorite Jars of Clay songs. I sing it often, and that is my daily prayer. One evening when I was singing it and making dinner and my daughter peeked her head around the corner and said "how could God do that when you already are beautiful"?
So sweet, but little does she realize that I am a far cry from being as beautiful as Jesus.
As I make this my daily prayer and life goal, I am messing up a lot. I'm not worried about that, because of God's graciousness. But each day I'm at my knees wanting God to weed out what doesn't line up with Him, or look like Him. I don't want to do what I'm prone to do, I just don't accept that and neither does God. So here is a neat story to demonstrate how God will and can work if you allow Him to in your life. I, as most of you know, work at Caribou Coffee. I am now at the one in Hastings, and am settling in pretty well there. Each weekday morning we open the shop at 5:30am. Myself and another employee arrive at 5:00am. After I unlock the front door, and we bring the papers in, I am suppose to lock it again until 5:30am. But I am notorious for never remembering to do so. Well a couple of months ago, this man that we had never really seen before, would come waltzing in around 5:24 am, right in the midst of trying to get ready to open, there he'd walk in! "Crud, I forgot to lock the door again", I would say to myself. So I'd explain myself to him, saying we didn't open for another 5min or so, but I can help you this time etc... This man was of a different ethnicity. I, at the time wasn't sure what, but he was different. He would always snort his nose really loud, and not speak the BEST English, and want two drinks and there was something particular with each one. One was extra hot, another had less espresso in it etc...I'm thinking to myself "you are kidding me right guy? first you waltz in here and we aren't even open, then you have the nerve to have me tweek your drinks!!!!???? HIGH MAINTENANCE". Then he'd try to talk to me and I couldn't understand him, so I'd just make his drinks and try to get him out of there. I was so annoyed by all of those factors I was practically fuming! UGH. Anyway, he kept coming in, week after week, because dumb me kept forgetting to lock the door again behind me! Every time he'd waltz in, I could not believe I had forgotten again. Each time I would be just as annoyed, or more so. Especially with that loud snorting,"blow your nose dude"! 5:00am is early enough to be at work, but having this added to it STUNK. I just wanted to be at least left alone until exactly 5:30!
As the weeks were passing, I felt a tug at my heart. I know God was saying, "Gina, what on earth are you doing here? Where is your love, why this ugliness in your heart?" I kept thinking to myself, this has GOT to go, no matter how annoying the dude was, I needed a change of heart big time. So I did, I turned to God, asked Him to take the ugliness out of me and help me to love, help me to see this guy as He did. Help me not to see him as a nuisance, but as someone that had infinite worth to God, someone that I could connect with and show kindness to. Someone to show this person the aroma of Christ. I had been being so selfish and focused on how this guys was bugging me that I lost my sight of the fact that I need to be the "Salt of the Earth" and "A City on A Hill", I can't look like the rest of the world. I need to look different because God has commanded that of me. Anyone can act the way I was acting; what's so special about that, that's easy. But choosing to love, the best thing to do, is usually the hardest.
So, needless to say, he came waltzing right in again one morning and I wasn't bugged one bit! (After that I started to remember to lock the door behind me though)! We ended up chit chattin quite a bit. He actually lives right near where my Husband's first apartment was in Minneapolis, and I asked him what ethnicity he was and he said he was Somalian. I told him I thought he was Ethiopian. He was very kind and sweet and not offended. He giggled! I told him I had a nurse several times at Woodwinds Hospital that was Somalian, Amal, that was her name, and how kind kind kind she was to me! He got a kick out of that. Then we talked about the Starbucks in that neighborhood, and I told him I know that it's all Somalians that give them their business, and he said because of that, it's the highest grossed Starbucks in Minnesota! I told him that I thought it was neat when I went to that Starbucks and would always see them all hanging out and having community together.
I asked him what brought him up so early in the AM for coffee, and he told me he was a milk distributor, and that the farms he works with are in Hastings. He has had his own business now for 5 year, not years, as he would say it. I mentioned to him that I don't eat any dairy or chicken with fed antibiotics, or hormones, not just for me but also because of my daughter, and I started explaining my reasons to him. He listened and agreed!!! I could not believe it, because I usually get harassed for that! He knew exactly what I was talking about, and not only that....I told him how my Husband and I were so excited that we found a cheaper non treated milk at Cub, and one thing led to another, and he mentioned the brand of HIS milk, and yep, sure enough, it's the milk we bought! Valley View Farms, he even asked me if it had a Yellow label to make sure, and I said YES! So we bought his milk! It was very much a redeemed situation, once I noticed how wrong my heart was in the beginning. But it only gets better, (of course, if God's involved)!
I had Hand Surgery about two and a half weeks ago, and only missed about a week and a half of work, ok? Well, when I got back to work, my friend/coworker Deb, said to me, "you know your little friend, that different nationality one"? I said, "ya"...she's like, "well, when you were gone, and he'd come in for his drinks, he'd usually get stuck at the end of the barista bar with someone unfriendly, and even at one point went and sat down to wait for his drink because he was blown off.....and one of the days, Gina, he came up to me and asked "where my buddy? I want my buddy come back, when she come back"? I just looked at Deb, with big welled up tears, and said "no way, no way!
It was the most beautiful things I had almost ever heard. It was so beautiful. It warmed my heart to the max! I felt so special and so grateful that I had turned to God for change. God took something that at first as so annoying, frustrating, irritating, judgemental...and turned it upside down into the most beautiful ending! He delivered me from my earthly way, and redeemed me from myself once again! HOW AMAZING, how special! Pretty priceless huh? If I were you, ask God daily to "change this something normal, into something beautiful", and he'll answer you in ways you would never suspect. It won't happen over nite, but if you're looking to Him, it WILL happen. God bless you! P.S. I wish I could tell you his name, but I can't pronounce it or spell it!