“Joseph’s life serves as a reminder that everything we go through is preparation for something else. God is preparing each of us for something.”
(Greg Laurie, How Waiting Prepares Us,
Used by Permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514))
Despite all the blessings God was providing to our family, I continued to struggle with my new job. I was wondering what I was doing wrong because even though I felt as though God had led me to this job, I couldn’t handle all the responsibilities I had with all the areas in my life I was juggling. It wasn’t that any particular job was too difficult – it was that I didn’t have enough hours in the day to get it all done and I hated feeling like I wasn’t giving my best all the time. But, if I tried to give my best to my two jobs, then I had nothing left for my family or my writing and I knew that wasn’t pleasing my Father…so I was back again to struggling about how everything was supposed to fit (and wasn’t).
I happened to be making our bed with clean sheets, letting my mind wander, and God reminded me of something important. I have a degree in Psychology, yet had been working in the medical transcription field for the past ten years. I had wondered why God had allowed me to stay in that position for so long and had just maintained the attitude of thankfulness as it provided a good, steady paycheck while affording me the luxury of staying home with my kids. When I had first started my writing journey, I had a plan all figured out and wasn’t shy about sharing it with God. I told Him I was patient enough to stay working two jobs (actually three because I worked for two companies and was starting to write as a profession) for about two more years and then I would be ready to transition into a great salary from my writing alone. I could picture it now – making my own schedule, leisurely cups of coffee while the words flowed and plenty of time with my family, church functions, school activities, keeping the house clean…I think you get the idea.
As I was making the bed, God reminded me of something I had jokingly told a friend a few years back. I had never been a great English student (despite all my mom’s attempts at helping me as she herself is a Reading Recovery/English teacher by trade) and even had to be tutored by my English teacher my senior year in high school, earning the “most improved” award. As a result, I never had much confidence in my grammar, editing, or sentence structure skills and always felt a bit intimidated with my medical transcription job. I always worried that one day my boss would wake up and realize I wasn’t very good and fire me. So, I joked around with a friend, stating that God was actually paying me as a medical transcriptionist to learn English.
However, I don’t think I was far from the truth. Because of a decade of practice (and getting paid for it I might add), I am now more confident in my writing abilities (at least from a technical point of view). I even would go so far as to say I am confident in my editing skills and use them in my current position daily.
By God bringing that to mind, He showed me that He didn’t “fire” me from my job in February. past spring. I was actually promoted. He had given me ten solid years to practice my English skills and now that I had confidence in them, He was promoting me on to my next assignment.
I want to encourage you in your life today. If you are facing a hardship of some kind, maybe God is in reality promoting you to the next assignment – whether with a relationship, job, etc.
© Cheri Swalwell 2015