When my husband and I were dating, I had a pretty horrible full-time job. My boss was an obstinate micro-manager. Coming home crying every night, I’d whine to Alex about even my boss’s boss, a tyrant micro-manager who circled my cubical like a starving vulture ready to devour me for the tiniest misstep. While I was thankful to even have a job, my work was never efficient enough to appease. So I quietly put my resume out there and waited for a miracle.
In August that year, Alex, who had been working for the same retail store for seven years, had a job interview set up by a close friend of his with a small software company. Without any expectations, he walked in with his best foot forward and walked out with a job offer on the spot! We were just blown away by such an amazing blessing! Alex didn’t have a college degree nor much experience with computers, save selling a few in his retail job. But he started almost immediately, and the rest is history. (He has been working for the same company for the last fourteen years.)
A month later, still in the same depressing job, I found myself one morning on an elliptical trainer watching Joyce Meyer on TV. This was a familiar scenario except that this day was my birthday, and the message, unlike anything I had ever really heard. And while I can’t remember every single detail of it, the theme is one that I will never forget. Joyce began explaining how good God is and how He longs to bless us. Scripture makes this abundantly clear:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows grace and favor and honor; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11 AMP)
How blessed and favored are the people in such circumstance; how blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored] are the people whose God is the Lord! (Psalm 144:15)
Joyce shared that God not only wants to bless us but that His favor is upon those who believe in, rely on and trust in the Lord. We should expect His blessings and favor wherever we go. He wants to shower down blessings in abundance. That has been His plan all along, starting in the Garden of Eden. That is still His plan today:
“For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 AMP)
As I worked out that morning, I thought to myself, “Well, today is my birthday. Today of all days I expect God’s blessings and favor. I expect a phone call about a new job.”
Later that day, my cell phone rang. A recruiter answered saying, “I found your resume online, and I think you are perfect for this job opening I have.”
My interview with the company was one week later. That morning as I prepared, I thought to myself, “I expect God’s blessings and favor today. If God could give Alex a job on the spot at his interview, I believe God can do the same for me.”
Close enough. That same night the recruiter called me and offered me the position. It turned out to be the best job I have ever had. The only reason I left was because God called Alex and I to move to Peru as missionaries. During ministry furloughs, I returned to that company as an independent contractor (because they went through multiple employees trying to replace me!). His blessings continued to prove true on the mission field, and even once we returned home, this verse came to life:
Jesus said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there is no one who has given up a house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, who will not receive a hundred times as much now in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms…and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30 AMP)
Almost immediately after our return to the States, God gave me a new full-time job, the highest paying job I have had to date. We then built our first home while I was pregnant with our first child. On the day before I went into labor with Eden, Alex got a raise that allowed me to be a stay-at-home mother to Eden. And the blessings continue even still….
The Art of Choosing True Life 