I am stoked. You have no idea how excited I am right now. After over a year of testing us, It seems like God is turning our lives around.
I want to write about how God has blessed me with a new job, but that requires a little bit of background. So, grab a cup of coffee and sit tight. This may be a long post, but I hope my little story will bring glory to God in some way.
Why I lost my previous job
Starting in February of last year, I was sick. Really sick. It was the worst time in my life, and I had no control over it.
I wasn’t throwing up (most days), or coughing, or controlling a runny nose; it wasn’t that kind of sick. In the middle of February, I had the first migraine of my entire life. And I had no idea what was to come.
Within a month, I was practically bedridden most days. My head was swimming in a dark, nebulous, encroaching void from the time I woke up till the time I fell asleep again. It was such a virtigo-inducing, nauseating pain, most days I couldn’t even get out of bed for more then an hour or two before having to lay down again. It literally felt like some torturer was standing behind me, and every time my pulse beat, he would smash my temple with a hammer. I had to stay in complete silence and darkness: any light or sound turned his hammers into sledge hammers.
I felt so horribly bad for my wife. Here we were, barely 6 months into our marriage, and I was already severely testing her “through sickness and health” promise. I love her so much and appreciate her more than she can know. I honestly do not think I could have gone through everything had I not had her.
This went on for months.
Needless to say, it was pretty much unbearable to go to my call-center job with its bright halogen lights and computer screens and hundreds of phones ringing every minute. The days I tried to go, I wore dark sunglasses inside, turned by computer’s brightness down to its lowest setting, and even then I usually had to go home after a couple hours.
The doctors never figured out what was happening to me. I saw two separate doctors, a neurologist, and even a chiropractor regularly. I had blood-work done, a CT scan and MRI done, I even had a sleep apnea test done, but nothing gave the doctors anything to go forward with.
My employers worked with me as much as they could; they kept me on the payroll even though I was missing an obscene amount of work over several months, all so I could keep my medical insurance. After a bit though, they understandably had to let me go, but the vice president told me very kindly they were praying for me, and once I was better, I could always get a job with them again.
How we came to Tennessee
Obviously, while going through this time, we still had bills to pay, but not much to pay them with.
God is so good.
There were several occasions when the treasurer at church or a deacon at church handed me an envelope of money from an anonymous giver. To those who gave, you have no idea how much those gifts meant to us, not only financially, but to help us know God was looking out for us.
My parents were in the process of moving to Tennessee. Starting in August (which coincidentally, was right when I was let go from my job, meaning we had no more insurance) we were able to live in their old home rent-free. My wife had a part-time job babysitting, and sometimes I was able to help my old boss from a high school job, which made enough for food and gas.
One of us still needed a full time job though. I was starting to feel a bit better at this point; my migraines were hitting me every other day or so instead of every day, but I still felt very uneasy committing to a full time job. We trusted everything to God, though, and both of us were applying to any job we could find. We were looking anywhere from where we lived then, to Tennessee near my parents, to Oklahoma where my wife is from, to pretty much anywhere.
Long story short, she found a great looking Christian day care near where my parents lived. We drove up, and she interviewed, and they loved her.
My Gracious Parents
We took the job, but we needed a place to stay. We have some bills to pay off, and with those and the added medical bills we had developed, it would be very tight to rent with only one job. My gracious, loving parents, let us stay with them. Dad even built us an apartment in their garage, so we could have our own space.
Close calls
I was slowly on the mend, and since about December or so, I felt for the first time in 10 months that I would be able to hold a full time job. So I started applying, everywhere.
I applied to anywhere from retail mall stores, to call centers, to Starbucks, to computer repair stores, to government jobs, to... well, basically I applied anywhere there was a hiring sign. There were several very close calls.
One job was a health care position, where I would be taking care of mentally disabled adults who lived in a joint home. The interviews went great, they said it would be full time and I would get benefits. But when I got the offer letter, it stated I would be working part time. When I asked about this, they couldn’t even guarantee how many hours I would be working, and I wouldn’t receive benefits unless they gave me 35 or more hours. It all felt a little shady, and I felt like they were trying to take advantage of me, so I declined the offer.
Another job was at a call center for cellular phones. The interviews went extremely well, it looked like a great working environment, and I even knew some of the people working there. I was really looking forward to it, and then I got a call from the hiring manager. They were about to call me and hire me that week, but the cooperate heads decided to put a hiring freeze on the entire company. The manager had no idea how long the freeze would take, and I haven’t heard from them since.
Chance meeting
I was getting frustrated. At this point, I was feeling much better, and it was annoying that so many things seemed to be working out, then they would fall apart at the end.
One day I realized that all of my interviews had been in the same office park area. There are several office building there with hundreds of businesses. I decided to go through the area and see who all was there. I walked into the lobby of every single building there and jotted down on my notebook every company I though I would have a chance with. I drove home with three single-spaced pages of potential employers
I researched each and every one of these online. I scratched some companies off the list, and some I decided to just leave my resume to see what happened. I wrote 20 cover letters that night for all the companies that looked interesting. The next day, I dressed in nice pressed khakis and a button down shirt, and drove to the office park.
I went to the first place, a Christian counseling company, and stopped outside the door. I prayed a short prayer, “Lord, please bless my efforts today, and help me find a job.” and I walked in. There was a guy there, and I asked if I could drop off my resume.
“Well, do you know what we do?”
“Yeah, I looked you guys up online. You do various types of counseling, teen, marriage, etc...”
“Actually, no. Those guys moved and they haven’t replaced the sign yet.”
I have to say, my heart dropped a little when he said that. I thought, “I can’t even apply places anymore, they’re moving away before I can get to them.” Silly thought, I know, but I had been turned down so many times, I just felt defeated.
The guy, who introduced himself as Sean, glanced at my resume. He said he could get it to the counseling people. But then he started asking me about my education and some of my work. We started chatting, and it quickly turned into an unexpected impromptu interview.
Apparently, he had been giving a lot of thought to hiring on someone new. And I walked in with a resume looking for a job.
He is a copywriter. Copywriters basically write the text of advertisements. Think anything from the text of magazine or newspaper ads, to direct mail letters, to even the back cover of books. He wants to grow his business, but to do that he needed a right-hand man, an assistant to do anything from researching to ghostwriting to keeping up his website.
He had me work on a couple little projects to see how my skills compared to his needs. I wrote a sales letter to state why he should hire me, I wrote a couple little fun projects (like writing a label for a baked bean can), and I researched some information about retirees.
You know what I found? I loved it. And I was good.
I really enjoyed the writing: trying to market myself and turning even my lack of experience in certain areas into strengths.
I really enjoyed the researching. I took on a topic I knew nothing about, and withing a few hours, I had a large report full of statistics, facts, and quotes.
He apparently thought I was good too: He called me in for a more in-depth interview, and we ended up talking for about 2 hours.
In a week, he called and said I had the job.
Final thoughts
Thanks for bearing with me through all that. God is so good. He has taken care of us every step of the way. The past year and a half or so honestly has been the toughest time in my life, but I don’t think I would trade that time for anything in the world. God has taught me so much about faith, contentment, trusting Him, and so much more.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and more than that I hope you see how God has worked in our lives.
I want to write about how God has blessed me with a new job, but that requires a little bit of background. So, grab a cup of coffee and sit tight. This may be a long post, but I hope my little story will bring glory to God in some way.
Why I lost my previous job
Starting in February of last year, I was sick. Really sick. It was the worst time in my life, and I had no control over it.
I wasn’t throwing up (most days), or coughing, or controlling a runny nose; it wasn’t that kind of sick. In the middle of February, I had the first migraine of my entire life. And I had no idea what was to come.
Within a month, I was practically bedridden most days. My head was swimming in a dark, nebulous, encroaching void from the time I woke up till the time I fell asleep again. It was such a virtigo-inducing, nauseating pain, most days I couldn’t even get out of bed for more then an hour or two before having to lay down again. It literally felt like some torturer was standing behind me, and every time my pulse beat, he would smash my temple with a hammer. I had to stay in complete silence and darkness: any light or sound turned his hammers into sledge hammers.
I felt so horribly bad for my wife. Here we were, barely 6 months into our marriage, and I was already severely testing her “through sickness and health” promise. I love her so much and appreciate her more than she can know. I honestly do not think I could have gone through everything had I not had her.
This went on for months.
Needless to say, it was pretty much unbearable to go to my call-center job with its bright halogen lights and computer screens and hundreds of phones ringing every minute. The days I tried to go, I wore dark sunglasses inside, turned by computer’s brightness down to its lowest setting, and even then I usually had to go home after a couple hours.
The doctors never figured out what was happening to me. I saw two separate doctors, a neurologist, and even a chiropractor regularly. I had blood-work done, a CT scan and MRI done, I even had a sleep apnea test done, but nothing gave the doctors anything to go forward with.
My employers worked with me as much as they could; they kept me on the payroll even though I was missing an obscene amount of work over several months, all so I could keep my medical insurance. After a bit though, they understandably had to let me go, but the vice president told me very kindly they were praying for me, and once I was better, I could always get a job with them again.
How we came to Tennessee
Obviously, while going through this time, we still had bills to pay, but not much to pay them with.
God is so good.
There were several occasions when the treasurer at church or a deacon at church handed me an envelope of money from an anonymous giver. To those who gave, you have no idea how much those gifts meant to us, not only financially, but to help us know God was looking out for us.
My parents were in the process of moving to Tennessee. Starting in August (which coincidentally, was right when I was let go from my job, meaning we had no more insurance) we were able to live in their old home rent-free. My wife had a part-time job babysitting, and sometimes I was able to help my old boss from a high school job, which made enough for food and gas.
One of us still needed a full time job though. I was starting to feel a bit better at this point; my migraines were hitting me every other day or so instead of every day, but I still felt very uneasy committing to a full time job. We trusted everything to God, though, and both of us were applying to any job we could find. We were looking anywhere from where we lived then, to Tennessee near my parents, to Oklahoma where my wife is from, to pretty much anywhere.
Long story short, she found a great looking Christian day care near where my parents lived. We drove up, and she interviewed, and they loved her.
My Gracious Parents
We took the job, but we needed a place to stay. We have some bills to pay off, and with those and the added medical bills we had developed, it would be very tight to rent with only one job. My gracious, loving parents, let us stay with them. Dad even built us an apartment in their garage, so we could have our own space.
Close calls
I was slowly on the mend, and since about December or so, I felt for the first time in 10 months that I would be able to hold a full time job. So I started applying, everywhere.
I applied to anywhere from retail mall stores, to call centers, to Starbucks, to computer repair stores, to government jobs, to... well, basically I applied anywhere there was a hiring sign. There were several very close calls.
One job was a health care position, where I would be taking care of mentally disabled adults who lived in a joint home. The interviews went great, they said it would be full time and I would get benefits. But when I got the offer letter, it stated I would be working part time. When I asked about this, they couldn’t even guarantee how many hours I would be working, and I wouldn’t receive benefits unless they gave me 35 or more hours. It all felt a little shady, and I felt like they were trying to take advantage of me, so I declined the offer.
Another job was at a call center for cellular phones. The interviews went extremely well, it looked like a great working environment, and I even knew some of the people working there. I was really looking forward to it, and then I got a call from the hiring manager. They were about to call me and hire me that week, but the cooperate heads decided to put a hiring freeze on the entire company. The manager had no idea how long the freeze would take, and I haven’t heard from them since.
Chance meeting
I was getting frustrated. At this point, I was feeling much better, and it was annoying that so many things seemed to be working out, then they would fall apart at the end.
One day I realized that all of my interviews had been in the same office park area. There are several office building there with hundreds of businesses. I decided to go through the area and see who all was there. I walked into the lobby of every single building there and jotted down on my notebook every company I though I would have a chance with. I drove home with three single-spaced pages of potential employers
I researched each and every one of these online. I scratched some companies off the list, and some I decided to just leave my resume to see what happened. I wrote 20 cover letters that night for all the companies that looked interesting. The next day, I dressed in nice pressed khakis and a button down shirt, and drove to the office park.
I went to the first place, a Christian counseling company, and stopped outside the door. I prayed a short prayer, “Lord, please bless my efforts today, and help me find a job.” and I walked in. There was a guy there, and I asked if I could drop off my resume.
“Well, do you know what we do?”
“Yeah, I looked you guys up online. You do various types of counseling, teen, marriage, etc...”
“Actually, no. Those guys moved and they haven’t replaced the sign yet.”
I have to say, my heart dropped a little when he said that. I thought, “I can’t even apply places anymore, they’re moving away before I can get to them.” Silly thought, I know, but I had been turned down so many times, I just felt defeated.
The guy, who introduced himself as Sean, glanced at my resume. He said he could get it to the counseling people. But then he started asking me about my education and some of my work. We started chatting, and it quickly turned into an unexpected impromptu interview.
Apparently, he had been giving a lot of thought to hiring on someone new. And I walked in with a resume looking for a job.
He is a copywriter. Copywriters basically write the text of advertisements. Think anything from the text of magazine or newspaper ads, to direct mail letters, to even the back cover of books. He wants to grow his business, but to do that he needed a right-hand man, an assistant to do anything from researching to ghostwriting to keeping up his website.
He had me work on a couple little projects to see how my skills compared to his needs. I wrote a sales letter to state why he should hire me, I wrote a couple little fun projects (like writing a label for a baked bean can), and I researched some information about retirees.
You know what I found? I loved it. And I was good.
I really enjoyed the writing: trying to market myself and turning even my lack of experience in certain areas into strengths.
I really enjoyed the researching. I took on a topic I knew nothing about, and withing a few hours, I had a large report full of statistics, facts, and quotes.
He apparently thought I was good too: He called me in for a more in-depth interview, and we ended up talking for about 2 hours.
In a week, he called and said I had the job.
Final thoughts
Thanks for bearing with me through all that. God is so good. He has taken care of us every step of the way. The past year and a half or so honestly has been the toughest time in my life, but I don’t think I would trade that time for anything in the world. God has taught me so much about faith, contentment, trusting Him, and so much more.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and more than that I hope you see how God has worked in our lives.
God is good. His timing is impeccable. Your unexpected job interview was just his way of letting you know he had plans for you!
ReplyDeleteIt has been amazing to see God's hand in it all. Even during the trials, I knew God was teaching me so much through it all. God is good, all the time.
ReplyDelete