This is part 4 in a 5 part blog series about my first year back in the states. For part 3, click here
As I described in my earlier blog yet another job opportunity, that seemed so perfect for me, was closed - at least this time I'd had an interview, unlike the others for which I was denied even that (read through the last few months of blog posts if you want to know specifically about the jobs I didn't get). The Across the Pond job was one I had been hoping for/waiting on hearing about for months - almost since I got back to California. When it fell through it forced me to stop and truly wait in a space that I had been treating as just that - a temporary place, an interim job until the "real thing" came along; and I didn't even do it all that well, initially.
The steps I took, after finding out that I didn't get the Across the Pond job, was to immediately start applying to other things, put out new feelers. Re-fresh the resumé, try again and so forth. As those applications and attempts returned just as fruitless as so many before them, it started to sink in that, if nothing else is working then, perhaps I am where I'm supposed to be. Mind you, it's not completely financially feasible - let alone the dream job - but it's been good and has taught me a lot; and has given me the exciting opportunity to support some of my talented friends in their creative and entrepreneurial endeavors. When I started to come to terms with the fact that I am where I'm supposed to be, not just until the Across the Pond job or something else came along, God showed me my next step.
That coffee shop that would be opening on the street - you know, the one featuring Stumptown coffee - well I learned early in the summer months that it is going to be a a coffee shop that caters to writers; that would provide a space much like the one I'd been hunting for since I got back. A space that was sounding eerily like the coffee shop half of the bookstore/coffee shop that I've been dreaming of opening since my undergrad.
Well, when I heard what it was going to be I emailed the boss and let it be known that it sounded like the sort of place I'd been dreaming about. And he responded very positively! The way he communicates isn't always the most understandable, however, and it took until a LOT more recently for me to actually know that what I thought he was implying - that I would be managing the coffee shop - was what he actually meant!
So, friends, through the ups and downs with job hunting and soul searching and question asking, verse 20 of Ephesians 3 keeps coming to mind - the fact that God is the one who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He showed me all of these jobs that could have been dreams on their own, but he's blessed me in giving me a job that both prepares me for a dream as well as fulfills a part of that dream. I am so excited and I will definitely be sharing more as time goes by about my coffee shop. :-D my coffee shop. That sounds so fantastic. I'm also nervously anticipating the responsibilities that will come along with this new position and I would greatly appreciate you joining me in prayer that I would remember that I am not doing these things on my own and that it is never under my own power alone that I will be able to accomplish this.
So, my summer back has been considerably different than the one I had in Scotland. Instead of working on a dissertation that felt like climbing a mountain, I've been working on climbing the next one - one step at a time - gathering information and researching and preparing myself for what will be coming when my coffee shop opens.
to read part 3, click here you ready for the end? click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment