Persevere with faith and courage
You can’t see what’s in the
works for your future during the present. You may feel stuck in where you are
or confused in where to go, but things are happening.
I remember being so
impatient to graduate from college to start my career. I was so confident in
God and I knew that He knew what I wanted and what I needed, that I had zero
doubt in Him to bless me with a job. I thought, as long as I have a job before
the fall I know I’ll be set and I’ll be able to pay off my student loans soon. Then
weeks passed after graduation and I still haven’t heard from any job prospects.
I kept applying and kept following up, but nothing was happening. And my Dad
would ask me “How are the job interviews going?” And I’ll respond, “There are none!
I would have told you by now. Please stop asking because there’s obviously
nothing happening.”
It’s not that I lacked faith
in God or didn't trust Him with my future; I was struggling with impatience. I assumed I
would find something so fast. I didn’t want help from people, I didn’t want to
network; I wanted to find a job on my own. Weeks turned into months and I was
getting cranky. I would have good days, but then bad days where I felt so
discouraged and incompetent. I felt like I wasn’t good enough for the job market
or that I was unqualified.
My father noticed my
moodiness and called me into his room to talk and he told me something that I
would never forget: “You’re still in the process. Your resume is getting looked
over, your letters are being read, you’re just not hearing back but that
doesn’t mean nothing’s happening. You’re in the process of it all.”
And he was right! I was
overlooking the entire process of the
job search. I was focusing on the ending of
the search, which is the actual job. But I was moving along — I was in the
process.
I have applied to about 40
jobs by then and I was about to give up and stop. But I got off my high horse
and looked for help. I checked my alma mater's journalism program Facebook group and saw a former
professor’s post on a job listing, and another great professor liked the post. I
applied for an internship position I found on the job listing that Wednesday
night, the next day I heard from the editor for an interview, I visited the
office, then I started that week. It all happened so fast and smoothly. It was my
first job interview after graduating and I was as cool as a cucumber. I wasn’t
nervous, I wasn’t unsure of myself; I felt at peace. I was excited and so
grateful about the chance to land a job interview alone.
At that point, it really
didn’t matter if I didn’t get the job. I knew I wouldn’t feel disappointed in
myself or incompetent, I would know that it wasn’t what God wanted for me, and
if He said He didn’t want it for me that’s because it was for my best interest in mind. He knows the desires of my heart so He knows what I truly want and need.
Don’t ignore the entire
process of things. Our faith may drop or our passion may dry out because we’re
looking at the tangible evidence of what’s in front of us. But what looks so
much better is yet to come. Just because
we haven’t reached where we want to be doesn’t mean we’re never going to reach
it.
For I am about to do something new. See, I have
already begun! Do you not see it?
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies
before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t
get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Edited April 2021
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