May The Name of The Lord Be Praised

It's insanely early on a Saturday morning. Yes, I really should be asleep. I desire sleep. I deserve sleep. I crave sleep. But alas, my body refuses. I think the Lord woke me up early this morning on purpose. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday was a insanely crazy and exciting day for me. Humm..where do I begin? In December, I graduated with my Master's degree. Sometime in November I saw an opening for a position close to where I was looking to move after graduation (You see they kick you out of student housing when you graduate!). So, I tracked down the e-mail of the contact person and asked him if I could send him my resume. He said yes, I sent it on its merry little way.

One week, two weeks, three weeks. I have heard nothing! Absolutely nothing. So, I shake it off and continue applying for random jobs that I am way over qualified for. Once again, nothing. Not one phone call!! Not one e-mail. Just silence. I am about to rip my hair out. I am about to throw a hissy fit like I'm three. I don't think I actually threw one of those in my life, because my momma would have spanked me so fast.....well that's another story.

It comes the week of my graduation. I am excited, yet disappointed. I know that one of God's names is Jehovah-Jireh: the God who provides, but I don't see Him providing for me. Hello God? Are you out there? Do You see me? Do you see that I really need you to provide right now? Why are you not doing ANYTHING!! Then comes the all encompassing embarrassing question I was asked a MILLION times. "So, what are your plans after graduation?" Everytime I wanted to run for the nearest table and hide underneath it. I don't think anyone really understood how I felt.

Mom, Dad, and I at Graduation. They are the best parents ever!!

Remember, still NOTHING! No word on anything!

Then the week before Christmas a get an e-mail from the first place I sent my resume. Wow!! The silence was broken!! It listed some qualifications, told me if I thought I met those, to let them know. Humm...do I meet those? Uhh yeah, I can do that. Then they asked me to take some tests online. Took those the Friday before the week before Christmas.

Now I have to tell you that during this time from about Mid-December on, God began to speak to my heart through my quiet times. Wow, did He blow me away. Over and over again the phrases "wait on the Lord," "trust in the Lord," and "take refuge in the Lord" kept showing up the the verses I was reading. Everyday I ran to my Bible, because at least God was speaking to me there. If I couldn't see Him moving in any other areas of my life, at least I could see Him moving there. At this time I also began praying specifically that God would provide me a job. I told Him I would go anywhere and do anything. I just wanted to be where He wanted me.

So then I went home for a week for Christmas. I had one of the best Christmases I have ever had. Just because I got to spend it with my family. Then I came back and went back to work at the school I just graduated from. (Forgot to tell you this part, I have worked in the Registrar's Office at my school the past two and a half years) Then came the next embarrassing question: "I thought you graduated..." Yeah it was really horrible. I'm sure I turned bright red everytime someone asked!

God continued to speak to me in my quiet times. One day I asked Him if I needed to take on another part time job. It's funny, because He spoke to me immediately. He said, "rest in the Lord." And I just felt Him telling me in my heart to enjoy these days off that I had right now. Boy do I know why now!!

Then, last Friday on my day off, I got the phone call. I had an interview!!!! That afternoon! Luckily, I was blessed this last semester by a group of women that bought me a head to toe interview outfit. Do you know how much pressure that takes off when I didn't have to worry about that!! Here, let me show you my outfit!

I never in a million years could have been able to afford this great suit! So back to my story. Went to my interview at 3:00, left at 5:30! I left feeling so good, feeling confident that this is where the Lord was going to place me. They said they would check in with me by Tuesday. Tuesday came, no phone call. Honestly my heart kinda dropped a little, but I held my head high and trusted the Lord, I took refuge in Him. Wednesday of this week rolls around, the phone call came. They were checking my references and would be back to me by Friday. Sure I thought!!

Friday morning my quiet time scared me to death. These are verses from Psalms 37:39-40. Verse 39 says "But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble" I got this far and stopped, my heart dropped. God are you fixing to bring me trouble? Does that mean that I am not going to get this job? I bucked up and read the next verse "And the Lord helps them, and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them. because they take refuge in Him" Do you see it yet? Yeah the second verse was the one that was for me. In this moment I felt the Lord saying, the times of trouble are ceasing for now, I am about to deliver you from this particular trouble. Yeah, amazing!

So I went to work yesterday. Going through my day. Working hard. Registering students, rebuilding a guys transcript, you know just Registrar stuff. And my phone rings, so I take in into the vault. I saw the number and knew it was do or die time. But I knew the Lord was going to provide, so if it wasn't thing job, it would be another one. So I'm in the vault because that's where everyone in my office goes when they need to talk on their cell phone. And then it happens. He tells me he wants to hire me and he would like me to start as soon as I can. Like Tuesday if my boss will allow me to. So, to make this long story shorter, yesterday was my last day in the Registrar's office. Tuesday, I begin my new job. It was amazing and hard. My office has become my family and it broke my heart to leave them so quickly. Why does God always do that to me? This is always the pattern: wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, BAM! Go! So I am going. Let me show you my office family from the past two and a half years.

I cannot end this post without giving all the glory in this story to the Lord. I didn't do any of this...obviously! I was totally powerless in this situation. All I could do was wait. But God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Author of Salvation, Jehovah-Jireh, did what is in His character to do. He provided, He took care of His child (thats me!). He blessed me in an amazing way where all I can do is praise His name. So, May His name be praised! May He get all the glory.

And that is why I am up at 7:15, now 8:42 on a Saturday morning, writing this post. God got me up this early, because I needed to praise His name for what He has done. He needed to get all the glory!!! All Glory and Honor to You Lord!