“This feels like such an answer to prayer.”
A friend congratulated me on a job I felt ready for at a company I believed in. The last year was full of lots of uncertainty and budget cuts and the role I was leaving had been shaky at best. This new work would be with a familiar organization whose vision and mission I aligned with. I had friends there and when I announced I’d be joining the team, I got texts and well-wishes and messages of welcome. It felt like I was in the right place at the right time.
And then, a few months later, I was told that while I was a hard worker and talented in many ways, it wasn’t the right fit. They were kind, but in the end, we went our separate ways.
I thought this was an answer to prayer?
And shouldn’t that kind of thing last longer than four months? Shouldn’t I have been able to settle in like coming home? I felt a sense of discouragement, shame, and disbelief. Did I read the situation wrong? Was exhaling a sigh of relief misplaced? Was there some red flag I’d ignored?
It’s hard to be 35, experienced, and searching for a job all over again — especially after eyeing the door of a job for so long and then thinking you were walking through the right one.
Sometimes, when a play takes a sudden turn or a dream dies or a relationship ends, we decide that our time was wasted. And believe me, I’ve told myself over and over that very thing. If I’d just landed in the right place to begin with, I’d be so much better off! If I’d just made the right call or said the right thing or taken the right route, I wouldn’t be in pain now.
One night, as I processed this news, I whispered to a friend, “Well, at least it was four months of provision.”
As the words came out of my mouth, I wondered if perhaps they were an invitation to shift my perspective. Instead of seeing these months as wasted, perhaps there were gifts that were buried deep under the confusion. Perhaps this moment was one to lean into my heartache and ask different questions.
Instead of, “What was the point of that?” I can ask, “Lord, what are you making new in me as a result of this?”
If we’re promised in Scripture that God uses all things for the good of those who love Him, that means that while some things aren’t inherently good, they are being used for good.
Here are some of the invaluable lessons God taught me through this job, even as it was taken away:
1. Make your workspace your own and care for it well. If you’re spending 8 hours at a desk, it should be beautiful.
2. The most confident people are dealing with a whole lot of doubt and insecurity — you should check in on them.
3. When a colleague is overwhelmed, ask if you can take something off their plate.
4. Get up and take a walk between tasks, even just for a minute or two. Your brain will thank you.
5. Sometimes, work days are long and plans change. Don’t overthink it.
6. Sometimes, work days are smooth sailing. Don’t overthink it.
7. Before opening your computer or beginning your shift, ask God for patience, focus, and opportunities to see others.
8. Be generous. Collaborate more than you compete with others.
9. You will not regret going the extra mile to make someone laugh.
10. Disappointments and closed doors are opportunities to surrender to Jesus all over again and walk alongside Him closer as I take the next shaky steps toward what’s next.
I wonder what would happen if we focused less on what we’re missing and more on what we’re gaining or how we’re growing. Not to cover up the pain — I’m still super embarrassed every time someone says, “How’s the new job?” — but to remember that God moves in every season and every moment. To remember that who I am now is not who I was four months ago. And to remember that God is staying the same.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In a world that seems to shift every other hour, sometimes minute by minute, it’s good to pause and look up. To always see Him sitting there, making eye contact, not in a hurry.
If you’re in a place of unexpected loss, I want you to know this, sister: you’ve still got so much to gain in patience and hope and compassion. You will become someone new each day in small ways, and your community will be richer as a result.
Take time to write a note.
Take time to say a prayer.
Take time to crack a joke.
Live fully into whatever this season brings because it might just be the season that you need.
Sounds like you learned a lot in that short time, and I’m sure you touched some others in that time in a way God wanted. You were there for a reason and a season and now it’s time to move on. He’s still right there with you. You’re in the prime of life with so much to do. This is the attitude we all need to have— what is God doing with us in this season?
I’m 72 and retirement doesn’t look like I expected, but God is still right here and I want to walk with Him and do what He gives me to do, trusting Him for the strength to do it.
Gail, I am also 72 and retired. In what way is retirement looking different than you imagined?
Yes, God is here in all seasons.
I like your list!
I will say I have often had to remind myself that even when my plans fall through, God still has a plan! He’s working what we cannot see but can believe by faith.
Melissa,
I listen every day to this podcast then share it. Today my heart wants to encourage you. When I look back at my 34 years as a pharmacist, working in the pharmaceutical industry, I can see God‘s hand. Once he moved me from one company to another and at the time, I didn’t understand it, but now I can look back and see how he blessed me. Sometimes it takes years for His perspective. As I listened to your devotion this morning, I can’t help but to know that he has something wonderful in store for you. Wouldn’t it be so great to be able to look back and give God all the glory, knowing that He had your best interest in mind all along. He always does!
Sending you New Year’s joy,
Lisa Wilt
Amen. Thank you, Lisa!
OMG Melissa, you have no idea how timely this was for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This is such a Godwink for me as I’m trying to shift my perspective on some situations in my life. Thank you for being so raw and real about your life.
Dear Melissa…………I really loved your words today. I am 77 years old now and have been retired for quite awhile, but I will tell you that I had the same kind of experience that you have. I started to work when I was 20. I was cleaning houses for women and they liked my work and told their friends about me. So, more work, but my family needed more money as we had a baby. I decided that even though I was appreciative that these women liked me, I needed to find something else. I had 6 jobs in between, but they still weren’t what I wanted. I questioned God about this and He told me to be patient and just be observant wherever I was. I wasn’t quite understanding this at first as I just wanted to give up. Here is where I am sure he stepped in. It had been 20 years since I began cleaning and all of a sudden, I had a call from Human resources about a resume I had sent them at least 6 months ago and she asked me if I would be interested in a position that was open in this very large company. I said yes and went for 2 interviews on my lunch break from the job I was currently in. Much to my surprise I was offered the job and it turned out to be my “Dream Job” I had been waiting for. I ended up working there for 35 years and became a Manager in Customer Service, but all of a sudden, it popped into my mind that this was what God was telling me. Yes, it took me almost 20 years, but I had observed at all my other jobs, things that I call “Life Experiences” which in this job was very valuable for my success, so even though sometimes I had gotten impatient; but now I knew all these things that I did in all the different jobs, I remembered and I was very successful because of it. God had come through for me and I prayed so hard to him to with much gratitude and asked Him for forgiveness for not realized what He was trying to tell me. So, Melissa, your words were so relateable to me and you reminded me to be patient as now, at my age, I face a very serious and complicated problem that I have been facing for 3 years. I still have my days that I feel very confused and hurt, but then I just go back to prayer. I hope that you have a Blessed Week and I send you my love for your very wise words……….Betsy Basile
Thanks, Betsy! Glad you’re here.
Melissa, I am so sorry you had to suffer this disappointment. Surely God has something wonderful down the road, just for you. And you are so wise to see the good! And I know you will live your life well in the in-between!
Thanks for the encouragement, Irene!
“…It’s good to pause and look up.” This.
Melissa, this is so helpful paul and encouraging. Though I’m in different circumstances, your learned insights fit perfectly to my season. Thank you for sharing with us. I consider it a timely gift from God ~
Thankful it met you. Jesus is kind!
Thank you for this article. I worked at DDS for only 6 months with good pay and it is different to not to think should I have stayed but GOD lead me back to the job I love with not so good pay.
This is so encouraging to me in my watching and waiting! God knows.
This was so encouraging to me, as I’m in a season of, “But, God….I thought….” Thank you for telling your story!
You’re not alone, Jessica!
I had a kind of loss that wasn’t a job. Not my divorce, not anything like that. It was the loss of my valuable last viable years I feel like I completely wasted on the granddaughter I raised from birth to age 18. The loss of my best last years of everything. From 50 to age 68 after a terrible divorce in my early fifties. Raising and adopting a difficult grandchild as a single, older parent post divorce. She turned out to be terrible with promiscuity from age 15 and rebellion. I tried, I prayed, I cried and I finally gave up. She had sincerely embraced the Lord as a younger person in our solid church and then just failed when high school came along.
I honestly cried and asked God a couple of weeks ago-what was that all about because in my eyes that was a waste of time and of my life that is at the end. WHY did you allow that?? What even was the purpose of any of that other that being a waste of time??? I thought that was your will to do this!!It apparently amounted to nothing!! And now I am old and I wasted my life on nothing!
Through reading the article, I was reminded that God does something beneath the surface and maybe He is working something for the good even though this is not good. Today I needed this. This granddaughter I have invested my very soul in, she does have a faith in God, and that is everything. It is fierce and even though she struggles with mental issues, and terrible judgment because of that, her faith will prevail. And for myself, I think that God is doing something underneath the surface in my own life that I hadn’t even realized.
God is always at work. Praying for you, Linda!
I love these ten points so much. I work full time and can totally relate to them. And to think the Lord used 4 months to teach you all that. I am sorry this ended the way it did but grateful for your example.
Thanks, friend! Glad you’re here.
This happened to me last year. I been in my previous job 9 years and an opportunity became available and I prayed and contemplated and fasted and I believed it was for me. I took the job and it was great the first 6 months I ended up needing surgery and thats when the issues started. by the next january I was let go with the opportunity to resign. I was devistated where was God in this? I needed my job, I was also taking care of my terminally ill father along with my mother. I was so ashamed I didnt tell my parents for a whole 2 months. I could not find anything else. My father passed in August, my world was shattered. I had to look back on it and I was grateful that I spent the last 8 months of my dads life with him. I continued to look for a new job and still nothing came. In October I was given the opportunity to interview for a position with the agency I left but in another department. The day of the interview 30 minutes before, unbeknowst to me I suffered a mild heart attack, drove through downtown traffic to the interview, interviewed and met old friends and drove home. I still didnt feel well and my husband took me to urgent care, then to one hospital then to another hospital. The Drs descovered I had a mass – myxoma- on my heart that needed open heart surgery for removal. I stayed in the hospital for 21 days. I thank God that he covered me all during last year, it was a life changing year for me. I still am unemployed and recovering, I am praying for doors to open for me. Like you I am still looking for new perspectives with my new normal. Thank you for reminding me to continue to do so.
Melissa,
This hit straight at my heart. Years ago, in 2002, my last day of what I thought would be a dream job was my first wedding anniversary. I kid you not. It was like, “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” A false offer to help with finding a job. A false offer of sympathy. It stank. And yes, I was out of work for five months. Fast-forward to November 2006 when I finally found my forever home in terms of jobs. I wandered a path, but God led me. Fear not, friend. He’s got you in the palm of His hand.