Answered Prayer

As some of you know, I have been jobless for the past two months. Thanks to a "strategic realignment" at my company, I was displaced. That means laid off in non-corporate speak. I had until 2/29 to find another position within the company or as of the 29th I'd be finished. Thanks, but buh-bye.

I started the process of finding a new career (which some of you may know that I've been so lucky as to have been through this whole experience once before) shortly after I was notified, but I didn't start submitting my resume to anything really until just around the first of the year. In the meantime, thanks to some very supportive friends and my family, I took a step back from the trees to try and see the forest.

In my old job I was not happy. Sure, I liked a lot of individual things about what I was doing or the company, but on a whole I really was starting to severely dislike where I was headed. But, I lacked the courage or the at least feared change enough that I wasn't about to leave my job voluntarily. I felt like there was too much to lose. Funny, when you can't, or won't, help yourself the universe seems to push you off the cliff you're standing on. Or as I believe, God has a plan and this was a part of it.

When I found out about losing my job, I cried. And I yelled. And I was very frustrated. After about three days, I was crying in the shower, boo-hooing about what was I going to do now? And I just stopped. I prayed, "Lord, I can't do this. Please take this from me...I am not strong enough to carry this burden alone. I don't know what your plan is for me, or how this is a part of it, but give me the patience to wait for what is coming and the ability to recognize it when it gets here."

This became my daily prayer. I almost immediately knew that there was a reason for this, that there had to be something better in store for me. I had real peace about what I was going through. And whenever someone heard about my situation, or if I was telling someone how I was coping, I repeated my prayer to have patience and to know what the next step was when it was time.

Meanwhile, I started sending out my resume. The market is tough these days, and for all the jobs I posted for, I only heard back on a couple. One of the first jobs I submitted for was via a recruiter. When he called me I answered his questions, but I'll tell you, I thought he was an a**. He wanted to know why I was looking and my answer didn't seem to satisfy him. He wanted to know all about my performance and again, my answers didn't seem to satisfy him. He told me a little about the company and then said he would send my resume with all the others to be reviewed by the hiring manager. He said if I didn't hear from him in about a week to give him a call.

Well I didn't hear from him and actually, I had no desire to speak with him again. I thought he was rude and was not representing the hiring company well at all. About three weeks went by, with me submitting for jobs and hearing back from a few. One opportunity that looked promising and started to get me excited. I am now visiting my grandparents for a long weekend, when on Monday I get a call from the a** recruiter. He says, "Good news. I got you a phone interview with the hiring manager. Are you available tomorrow?" We were flying home the next day, but I said yes and we worked out a time between me getting to the airport and getting on the plane to interview with the hiring manager. At this point, I had done NO research on this company or had even prepped myself for interviewing. I didn't even have a copy of my resume with me. With the help of a kind neighbor, I was able to access my email and the internet, and I printed out a bunch of info. I sorta crash studied on the drive to the airport with my mom, and then I had the phone interview.

This was a Tuesday, and I heard back from the recruiter late that evening that the manager wanted to bring me in for an in-person interview that Thursday. Sounds good, I said. Fast forward, that interview went well and I was brought back the following Thursday for another in-person interview. I was then selected to be the candidate for the position and was sent to the company's headquarters the next Thursday to interview with three higher-ups. That was a week ago.

Last night I got a call from the manager, offering me the position. Of course, I'm going to accept. So how, you may be wondering, is this an answer to my prayer? Besides getting a job, which I very much needed, some interesting things make this just more than a coincidence. First, I never called the recruiter back. He called me. And the other jobs I was looking at suddenly all disappeared. The opportunities seemed to fade away. This was the only company I ever interviewed with. Second, I never once felt nervous in the entire process. I was confident and very comfortable with the interviewers, and the more I heard about the position, I knew it would be a good fit. Third, and this is the kicker, it is in the field of infertility treatment. Whoa. I know.

This job feels right. It feels like exactly where I am supposed to be and I haven't even worked a day. It somehow makes my personal experience seem like more than just something I'm dealing with behind closed doors. I can be passionate about my new job because I know first hand what infertility feels like, what it means to women and couples going through it, and in the end, how important those who treat infertility really are.

So my prayer to "have the patience to wait for what is coming and the ability to know it when it gets here" has been answered. I never would have left my job, never would have considered a job in the infertility field if I hadn't been pushed. And this is the blessing of God's will. Of knowing that if left up to me, I would have missed out on an amazing opportunity. I have always known that God answers prayers, but it sometimes takes an experience like this to force you to remember that.

Now if I could only find the answer to my other prayer...