NEW, NEW

Hi, it’s me with a LIFE UPDATE: it’s long but it’s GOOD.

About 3 months ago (in early August) I quit my job. No back up plan, no job lined up…I just felt God telling me it was time to go and I went. It was a good job in a fun industry, and I had been there for almost 3 years. While I knew it was time to leave it, I never intended on being the girl who quit her job without another one lined up, and it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I thought quitting was the crazy trust part. The hard part. I never thought I’d be unemployed for over 2 months. I thought by Labor Day weekend I’d be starting a new job and the whole point of Jesus speaking to me was to get me into a new job. But when you steward what God gives you, He gives you more…so He gave me a lot more opportunities to trust completely in Him. 

As soon as I was done at my old company, I began applying for jobs full time. I did this for over a month, sending in numerous applications everyday, pretty much taking God out of the equation. If I looked remotely qualified on Indeed, I immediately applied. 

I got two job offers out of it too, both Social Media Manager positions, both in companies where I would have a lot of creative control, but without any flexibility to build church at all. The only thing I knew at the time was that I didn’t want to compromise building church in the way I’d been able to do the past two years, so I turned them both down.

In late September I was talking to God on the way to Intern Hour feeling like I had exhausted every option and applied to every single job I could find on LinkedIn or Indeed. When I told him I felt like I had exhausted everything, I felt him say, “But have you exhausted me?” And truth is, I hadn’t. I trusted Him in the quitting but not in the unemployment. So I started to level up my trust and rely on him. I spent time with Him everyday before I dove into applications. I started paying attention to what I was feeling from Him, but I had no passion about anything except church. It confused me. Why were the desires for my career going away? Why was I becoming more focused on ministry? Why wasn’t I getting responses from jobs I liked? Did He take me this far to put me in a job I didn’t like? 

When I quit my job I fully expected to go back into the corporate world, and I had no idea why God was changing my heart. The only comfort I had was that if He could move mountains and part seas and had the whole entire world in His hands, He probably had a good grasp on my job situation. 

So I had a real come-to-Jesus-kneeling-on-the-ground-in-my-living-room-crying moment and asked Him what He wanted, and that day (September 23) I felt God put it on my heart to start praying for a full-time job on staff at People Church. I’ve been learning to be specific with my prayers (because God is HUGE and good and wants to answer our specific needs), so I asked God to be on staff at People Church or in a job I was more passionate about by October 28th. I prayed this prayer everyday for over a month.

over these next 30 days I pray boldly about my job. I pray to be put on staff at People Church or that God reveals to me a job at a company I would be better suited for and more passionate about by October 28th.

Some days felt like things were moving, and others felt like I was crazy trusting in the peace I had over it.  

I’d been an intern at People Church for 2 years, but beyond that had no idea if they were adding to the staff. There were only 6 people on staff, and none of them were interns from my class, so it made no sense. But I’d known for a while I’m called (eventually) to full-time ministry and despite rational thinking, I just started praying on it and figured if He made all sorts of impractical things happen in the world, he could make something impractical happen for me. It was where the real trust kicked in. I had nothing left to give—it was just going to be Jesus. 

And in letting go and focusing on Him, I started to grow. My faith went beyond what I’ve ever experienced. The last month of unemployment, He worked in me every single day to build more and more trust in Him. He taught me to come to Him with EVERYTHING. To ask bold asks unapologetically. To never flinch in His presence, but to use the authority I have as a LOVED daughter of His. I learned He does not withhold things from me, rather, He makes the moves that are in my best interest. 

Just a couple weeks ago, on October 16th, on a flight back home from London, I wrote these words: 

A couple weeks ago I got a word of encouragement from someone in my grow group about my season of unemployment. She told me I was doing the right thing and that this season is intentional—it’s building me into the person I need to be before God releases me into my next job. The next job isn’t one off of indeed my happenstance. It’s an appointment. It’s going to fuel me and grow me and propel me to big things...but this season of unemployment and of full dependence on God was necessary to take God and I’s relationship to a whole new level. I can’t go back now. 

I’m all in and willing to see what He’s doing in my life. I want to be used by Him and know that He’s going to take me to places where He’s going to use me—I can let all the striving cease. 

So I don’t have answers yet. I’m coming off of a 10 day trip to the UK where I didn’t do anything but marvel at Gods beauty and diversity. No jobs applied for...but I know he has this and I believe I’m going to have an answer by October 28th (the end of the specific timeframe I gave God for staff at church or a different job). He’s good like that and He never lets me down. 

I might not have the answers but I know He’s working and it’s been in the works for a while now. 

God, thank you for this season to slow down and spend so much time with you. I never want to lose our closeness. I want to forever depend on you. You’re doing so many amazing things in my life I can’t wait to tell people!! 

The “telling people” part, is why I’m writing all these words. Just because I needed to write down how GOOD God is. 

So…

I couldn’t find anything I was more passionate about. I was waiting to hear back from one other job, when I got called in for two meetings within one week with my pastors at People Church (that doesn’t happen to me, ever). And with a delay in the second meeting (AKA God working behind the scenes ALWAYS), ON OCTOBER 28TH, I  was offered a full-time job as a Marketing Strategist at People Church. 

God. Came. THROUGH. Literally on the date I prayed for.

And I’m here on the other side of all of this, just completed my first week of work, and still marveling on the goodness of all of it. I’m so excited to be exactly where God has me and starting this new season. Against all odds, even though I never applied for the job, even though I didn’t even know if church was going to hire anyone, even though I wasn’t the most qualified, God answered my prayer. Not early, not delayed. Right on time. God loves to show up and show off. It didn’t make sense to pray for a job at church but I did it anyway. Every single day. 

And now, I can’t wait to see where this “yes” takes me. Every single one I say to God gets better and better.