Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Religion Take 4 ... When things fall nicely in place

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a little overwhelmed with miscellaneous things going on.  I was starting to feel like I needed to have a "paying job" again.  Unfortunately, with my son getting ill so often with various viruses of any given "season" and so many doctor appointments with so many specialists I still can't look for a job outside the home just yet.

I do my best praying in the shower.  It's really the only quiet time I get most days.  Sounds sort of creepy, weird, whatever, but that's when I get a chance to focus on my thoughts and at least say a quick prayer or two.  Don't get me wrong, I do pray other times but my attention gets redirected when a 5 year old and a 3 year old interrupt my thoughts constantly!

So back to my looking for a job ... when my daughter was 1 years old my mom stumbled upon an article in the local newspaper about working from home jobs and clipped it out and gave it to me.  It was about how a couple of inspired women were attempting to start up their own "firm" placing "professionals" that wanted to work part-time with flexible hours and with the ability to telecommute.  I contacted one of the firms and managed to do a quick little research job for the owner.  After doing a thorough research job for her, she told me of a company that was hiring "people like me" and she would actually recommend me for the job.  The bonus was it was a telecommuting job.  It didn't matter where I lived either.  Long story short, I managed to get a stay-at-home 20 hour a week job with a good company.  The job was only temporary,  with renewal every 3 months.  So essentially it was a job I would have for 3 months at a time and if they had enough work for me, they would contract for another 3 months with the option to terminate the contract if work lessened or my performance didn't meet expectations.  I ended up working for this company for approximately 20 months.  My employment was terminated because the economy took a nose dive and I was dealing with a baby (my son) that was in and out of the hospital twice because of respiratory illnesses and I couldn't keep up with the necessary hours.  It was really a blessing in disguise because I needed the time to focus on my son's needs.  I'm pretty sure it was God's way of saying, your job is to be Donovan's mom 100% right now.  God also knows that I'm a person who doesn't like to "quit" so I needed that extra push - the company to make that decision for me.

This job was a great job for me because I made a fair wage and was able to work from home when it was convenient for me.  I often got up at 5 am and worked two hours before my kids woke up and then two hours during the kids' nap time.  My weekends were free and I still had time to enjoy my children.  It was a win-win situation.

With my daughter going to a pretty expensive private school, medical bills due to my son's hospital stay and wanting to be able to afford one decent vacation a year, I needed to try and find a job.  As much as working away from home is so enticing, my son is not ready for that.  He gets sick so easily that if I placed him in daycare, he'd be sick 100% of the time - rendering me unemployed just because I'd miss so much time taking care of a sick child.

I looked up my old company and noticed they still had a position open for the type of job I use to do.  I talked this over with my husband and he thought it wouldn't hurt to ask if they'd consider rehiring me.  I was a good worker, but after 20 months I burnt out from lack of sleep, stress of trying to get 20 hours of work in a week and my son was constantly ill and he was just an infant.

I said a quick prayer while showering that morning typed off an email to my former supervisor and hoped for the best.  I waited that day hoping to hear from her, and then I got an email back indicating she was out of the office for a week.  No big deal, I just have to wait another week.  Finally two and a half weeks go by and I hear back from my former supervisor saying she'd love to hire me back, and asked me to "formally" apply for the job online.  She would complete the necessary paperwork and she'd let me know when I could start working.  Then she said, you do realize this is all predicated on "approval" from the powers that be.  So I got a little deflated.  Last week I found out I was "hired" for about 2 minutes until my supervisor realized that the most important "approval/signature" was missing - again I had to wait another week until such time the individual would be available to "approve" my hire.  Yesterday, I officially found out I have a job.  Although it's technically only for 3 months (at a time) I have a job!  I start September 1st.  I am excited and nervous.

So how does this relate to religion?  The other day I was thinking about all the difficult times in my life and how I managed to float to the top.  How things seem to fall into place, even when you think there is no possible way they can without Devine Intervention.  So I do know on a very simple level that God/Jesus walks with me and does pick me up and carry me through the rough waters.  For some reason, I do manage to float to the top and not totally sink to the bottom.  I do believe my prayers get answered - most of the time!

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