Monday Memories - More about Jobs

Continuing again this week with Retired Not Tired's Monday Memories and more about jobs we've had. Join in with your memories right here.

Jobs! Jobs! I've had a bunch of them. Some short term ... Some very long term! All totaling over 45 years of jobs. From:

babysitting ... to secretary/bookkeeper

assistant to public relations director in a Christian university ...

wire operator in a stock brokerage firm

Paralegal in law firm ... to vet supply at the stockyards

bank teller ... legal department of restaurant chain

and more law firms. Sigh.

I have been blessed to work with many fine, kind and generous people. The jobs weren't always fun, but in all of them I learned, had some challenging but rewarding times, and lasting relationships were built along the way.

All of the above jobs led me and prepared me for the last one before I retired ...

Rather than talk about the job itself though, I want to tell how I came to work there and that it was an answer to prayer and a leap of faith for my DH and me.

When the attorney I assisted retired, I was to be assigned to two other attorneys. This was a huge disappointment to me, so I began to ask God could I please, please leave because I didn't think it was going to be easy working for those two at all. Nothing against them. It was the area of law they practiced. But I finally surrendered to the feeling that if I was to move on, it would have to be a "God thing."

A few days later, when a friend mentioned that the founder/Chairman of the Board of a well known radio/teaching ministry had offered her a job, I strongly encouraged my friend to take it. Having been familiar with the teaching of this ministry, it was my belief that it would be a privilege to work for someone I admired so much. Upon hearing all my glowing recommendations, my friend suggested that maybe I was the one who should go to work for that ministry. Why not? How wonderful it would be to work in an atmosphere of biblical teaching with a group of like-minded people. I updated my resume and faxed it, along with a letter to the ministry and prayed that I would hear from them ... soon.

Hmmmmmm, somewhere along the way, I think my letter and resume fell through the cracks. So I resigned myself to staying with the law firm believing that there was a purpose for my continuing there, and pushed back the hope of leaving.

Until ... one day, about a month and a half later, I received a call asking me to come interview!!! Oh yes!! You betcha!!! After interviewing with the president and his assistant, they came to the conclusion that I was over-qualified for any position open in the corporate office and they were so sorry. :-(

A quiet discussion out of my earshot convened between the two of them before they suggested I might qualify for a position assisting the founder HERSELF in her home office (really, in her home!!) and might I be interested? This position had been open for nine months! Are you kidding? My dream come true working with an author/counselor/radio personality well known for her speaking and teaching.

After a lengthy and very relaxed interview with this wonderful lady and her assistant, I was offered what sounded like my dream job. Unfortunately, when we got down to the nitty gritty of such things as salary, I wasn't so sure this was my dream job after all. DH and I were living on a tight fixed budget and had become dependent upon my income. After explaining this to her assistant, it was decided that I could have a few days to think it over, discuss it with DH, pray about it, and give her my decision the following Monday.

Another disappointment. DH and I discussed this and looked over our budget every which way. We discussed it to death, thought about it, and finally decided it just wasn't something we could do at that time. So I readied myself to turn down the job offer on Monday.

On Sunday, we went to church and what do you think we heard? Faith, faith, faith. You gotta take a leap of faith when you believe something is right. As we came out of church, DH said to me, "You can take that job. It's going to be okay. Everything will be okay. We have to have faith!"

Next day, I contacted the assistant to let her know I would accept their offer. When I told her what DH and I had decided and how we had come to that decision, she had something amazing to tell me. She told me she had worked and re-worked the job description over the weekend so that my salary would be MORE than originally in their budget! Is that not fabulous! Was that not the God thing I had asked for?

We trusted God - He met our need.

He more than met our need because three months later, I was blessed with a raise, and blessed to be a part of this ministry for the next ten years.

At my desk

View of the back yard

My lovely boss

A recent pic with three of my former co-workers
Sweet ladies - all of them.