For years I’ve been a work-at-home mom. I teach online and write, so I haven’t had to worry about child care, sick days, and long commutes. But then a few weeks ago the can’t-pass job opportunity came along.

One of my friends told me about a faculty opening at her school. This is what I’ve longed for. When I was at my Mom’s graduation last December, I realized how much I missed being on campus. The interactions with students, the learning atmosphere, and the relationships. But then this summer I felt God saying, “walk away.”

I can’t tell you that I went willingly. There were two ideas at play here. One, I know the Holy Spirit is to be our guide, but I like to be extra sure what I “hear” through inner promptings is really Him. Two, I love teaching and didn’t want to give it up. So, I did a Gideon and said, “If this is really your will, then you need to show me clearly and get Jeremy on board.” Well, He did. None of my classes this Fall made.

So I prayed for clear direction for what was next. If my schedule was now wide open, where did God want me to go?

He swung open the doors to writing, and this past Fall I took a writing course called Tribe Writers that taught me how to write professionally. I thought, “Okay, this is the direction I need to go now.”

Then God stopped me in my tracks again.

The faculty job opportunity turn my world upside down, and I wondered why would God put this opportunity in front of me now? I love teaching, but it would also mean leaving my baby in childcare.

When I heard I had an interview, I was so nervous I felt like I was going to throw up. I hadn’t interviewed in almost 8 years, would I even know what I was doing? I prayed for direction and the words to speak during the interview. When fear came in, I tried to remember what we’ve been learning in The Search for Significance and fought Satan’s lies with God’s truth.

During the interview, the fear melted away. I pray they saw my love for teaching and their students come through.

That was last Monday and now I wait.

Right afterward the tight shoulders quickly returned. The thoughts about “what will others think of me if I don’t get the job? And what if I’m rejected?”

Then the Holy Spirit in me redirected me to more of the verses we’ve been learning over the last few months. Like those in Romans and Colossians tell me I’m fully pleasing and totally acceptable to God no matter what:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Rom. 5:1

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. ~ Col. 1:21-22

He also reminded me that just because there is inner conflict doesn’t mean that I’m not trusting Him. Every time I feel myself being overcome with the grey clouds of doubt, I can look to Him for the light I need to stop wallowing in worry and to wait patiently.

As you read this post today, I still don’t know the answers. I don’t know if I have the job or if I’ll even need find childcare for my baby. I’m still waiting. But as I wait the Holy Spirit reminds me of Psalms 107 where David recounts how God has helped Israel in the past and affirms that God will care for them in the future.

I can do the same in my own life. I can look to the past and remember how God clearly guided then and trust He’ll clearly guide now. {Tweet That!}

Just as the Holy Spirit has played a roll in my job through promptings, opportunities, and reminders of God’s word, he can be active in your life, too.

As we move into the final chapters of our study of The Search for Significance, McGee talks about the Holy Spirit’s roll in our lives and what some of the roadblocks are to us seeing him work.

Join us this week as we learn more about The Counselor Jesus left for us when He returned to heaven.

Let’s grow together: McGee says “it is important to remember that the Christian life is not simply a self-improvement program. Rather, it is a supernatural life in which we draw on Christ as our resource for direction, encouragement, and strength. Jesus  made this very clear in the fifteenth chapter of John, when He said that anything done apart from His love and power will, in the end, amount to nothing. See John 15:1, 4-5. Although we may expend tremendous effort at a great personal cost, only that which is done for Christ’s glory in the power of His Spirit is of eternal value.” Are there activities that you need to bring before God to be sure you’re doing them in His power and not your own? When I did this earlier this year, I was amazed at all the “good things” I was doing that weren’t God’s will for me right now. 

 

Additional Resources

Chapter 11’s Workbook section is longer this time and in two parts. Be sure to give yourself additional time each day or plan on working on it into the weekend, too, so you can absorb all the information in this chapter. It is time well spent. I promise!