Learning to Trust

Several years ago, I had a powerful lesson about doing my part and trusting God to do the rest.  I had been laid off from a middle management position and given four months of severance pay plus the support of an outplacement firm.  My daughters were in daycare full time at that point, and their father and I had just taken on a couple of new financial obligations.  I needed to get back to work as quickly as possible.

I took on my job search full time, going into the outplacement company’s office daily.  I did everything they advised me to do to the best of my ability and made a commitment to trust God.    As my severance period was winding down, I ended up being offered an HR management position that paid about 20% less than I had been making.  It was not my first choice of position, as I had been looking for a job out of state and outside the HR arena.  I knew, however, that if I turned the job down, my unemployment would end, because I had refused a management job in my field.  Yes, I could have lied to the Department of Labor, but that went against my commitment to trust God. 

I decided to accept the position, pay cut and all.  I saw several opportunities to make improvements in the HR department, and things went well.  Within six weeks, the COO reorganized the company and promoted me to a position equal to the person I had been hired by and was reporting to.  My pay was increased to what it had been in my former job.  I continued doing my best and six weeks after that, he restructured again, elevating me above the person who had hired me.  I was now his boss, and I was making more money than I ever had in my life.  Working at this higher level gave me wonderful new opportunities, including coming to Phoenix for a training program.  It was this exposure to the Southwest that prompted my move here. 

I can remember so clearly having to make the decision about accepting that job.  That profound lesson in trusting and letting go has stayed with me all these years.