I want to tell you my story of the events surrounding my new job. Yes, that is right I have a new job. The job will not start until July 5th and honestly I don’t really want this job but having money will be great so I will take it. The reason I don’t want the job is because I will be stuck in a cubicle with no windows and no people doing the same thing over and over each day. That is just so not my personality but I figure that if I can sweat in Africa without air conditioning and power, running water, no food and no water to drink, then I can handle sitting in an air conditioned building in America and get paid for doing it.
Well, I want to share the story of the events of getting the job because it reminds me that God knows us so well and takes the time to speak to us according to our personalities. If you don’t know me then you may not understand why this is so funny but those of you who do know me will understand the humor of this.
Last week I posted a resume with Monster.com. I got a reply from a company that I did not apply with but I thought, “I need a job, I should call them.” So I did. This is the very first place that I called other than temp agencies who lie about what they want and what type of jobs they have…. But that is ok…. I forgive them and I am trying to give them Grace. So, once I called this job they asked me to come in and take a typing test and a ten key test. No problem… I type fast so I thought this is no big deal. I went in and took the tests and I did fine with the typing test but the ten key was a bit slow. I have a laptop and haven’t used a ten key pad in about 5 years so I went slow to have better accuracy but evidently slow is not so good. After taking the test the lady interviewing me told me that she wanted some other people in the company to talk with me so that I could get the whole interview process done at one time. Great… I was not prepared for this but things went really well and once I told them that I had been in Africa all other things about me disappeared and that is all they wanted to talk to me about…. Well, they did ask a few questions about why I would want this job …. Blah blah blah…… I honestly didn’t want the job because by that time I had walked through the area where I would be sitting and it felt somewhat like a death trap but all the same I kept thinking that getting paid money would be a good thing so I decided that I would do what it would take to get the job. At the end of the interview, I knew they were going to offer me the job so I took a deep breath and I went home.
The next day the call came. Now by this time I had been praying that if this was the job I was supposed to have then God would have them say YESSSSSS or NOOOOO flat out.. no more, no less. Here is the conversation of the phone call, “Amy, we want to offer you the job” (Amy’s thoughts… oh crap) “Ok, that is great!” (not smiling) “But Amy, your ten key is about 10 key strokes less then what we need so can you come back in and test and then we will see what happens?” (Amy’s thoughts… now God this is not yes or no, that is a more then??????) “Ok, I will come back next week, I haven’t used ten key in a long time but I will practice and come back”
So, over the weekend I practiced for about 10 minutes and then decided that I can do the test, I knew I could do what they needed so I put the whole job thing out of my head and enjoyed the day. Sunday I expressed my worry to my pastor about how I don’t know if I should take this job or not because it will take me out of full time ministry but having money to be in full time ministry is good and since I have none I should take the job but I am concerned about my level of depression and blah, blah, blah….. so he prayed that I would know for sure.
Ok, now I am ready to make my decision and either call and tell them no thank you or go and take the test and tell them yes……… I was so ready for this, I completely avoided it all day on Monday…. But on Tuesday morning I decided to call and ask what the hours I would be working would be because I knew I wanted to work certain hours….. and of course the hours don’t fit in that frame… I would love to be off work by 4 or 4:30 as I have over the past ten years…… well the lady who had interviewed me last week asked me when I was going to come back in and take the ten key test. I sighed a great sigh and said, how about today? She told me 2:30 would be great. As the day drug on I was fighting with myself to call and tell her forget it or to just go and take the test……
My thoughts were that if I take the test and it is not fast enough then it is my skill that caused me not to get the job and it was not because I said no. I am having trouble turning down a good paying job even if it will make me unhappy… I just don’t feel that it is responsible to turn down a job. Anyway, I had already decided that I was going to not eat for the day for several reasons but I once I decided that I would go and take the test, because the temp job I was told was so close and I drove to find it the night before wasn’t so close or not even close at all, and the other job (the one I really really want) was not where they told me it was either and they will not interview until after the 22nd of June and I had been out in 100 degree Texas trying to get other jobs… I decided that I should eat something so that when I take the ten key test I would be able to concentrate and do my very best. Yes, that is how my mind runs all the time….
I thought… I have almost one hour, I should go somewhere close to the office. I found a Chinese food place and went in. After my meal I opened my fortune cookie. Now, I want to remind you that this job is processing medical claims. I read the message in my cookie and I am not kidding, it said, “You will make a name for yourself in the field of medicine.” Of all the fortune cookie messages in the world that I could have gotten I had to get this one…… I told God right away that I didn’t think that was very funny. I don’t put any stock in messages from fortune cookies but why couldn’t I have gotten the message that said “You will meet and marry your very rich husband today so that you don’t have to take this job”. Maybe I should have played the lotto numbers on the back of the message????
I went and took the test and they offered me the job and I said yes and then I cried for the rest of the day. By the way, my pastor’s pray was answered and I knew for sure that I didn’t want the job! But I am taking it anyway until something else comes along or I just don’t like it enough and I tell them no thank you.
I don’t know what will happen with the job and I am reminding myself that I cried when I got the last job I had because I didn’t want it either for other reasons but that was the job that put me with a wonderful boss who gave me the courage to follow the call of God in my life and sent me to Africa.
So, I guess my fortune cookies message for you is to seek out how God is speaking to you at times when you think you can’t really hear Him because He will speak to you in that special way that He created you to hear Him.
Follow up: I took the job, and I started on a Tuesday??? The next day I injured my back, I don't remember how I did that but I had a left over injury from Nigeria which made the new injury much worse than it would have been. By Thursday of my first week of work I couldn't walk without crutches, and by Friday I had to leave the job because I was in so much pain that I couldn't sit up straight for the training. Now, I have to say that I believe that the pain in my back was a result of not following what God wanted for me, not that I believe that God gives up pain, but I do think He allowed me to hurt my back.... I was very clear that I didn't want the job and my pastor's pray was answered but I ignored it and took the job anyway... lesson learned: Pay more attention to what the pastor says......
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