Lessons from the Job Hunt
Seraphine-Thersa
By Olivia Sielaff
Here I am, several weeks graduated from college, writing about finances, and still jobless. The irony.
I’ve gone through a lot of highs and lows these past few months. My emergency fund is quickly depleting, and I’ve filled out more job applications and written more cover letters than I care to count. Good things have happened, too, and opportunities I’m very thankful for. But still nothing steady. My life is in a fairly different spot than I thought it would be in since graduation. Looking for a job is a job in itself, and I feel like I’m almost on empty.
The other day, after another disappointing outcome from a job interview, I told my boyfriend, “Ya know, I feel like God has been trying to teach me a lesson these past few months — but I sure hope that lesson is over soon.”
“What do you think He’s trying to teach you?” he asked.
It made me realize that perhaps God has given me these disappointments and trials to teach me to trust Him. It’s not my pride, my motivation, or my spirit that’s been hurt the most. It’s my trust in God.
Reflecting more, these are some of the lessons that God is teaching me in my job search:
Trust
To trust Him and His plan for me, knowing that His Will might include unexpected setbacks and changes. Trust also involves clinging to God and allowing Him to be my security, my stronghold. Money will never give me the security I truly need and desire.
Surrender
To surrender my financial future, present, and past to Him. Maybe I didn’t make the wisest decisions in the past. Or oftentimes I think taking charge of my job search is a task only I can do, to the exclusion of God who can do all things. But I must especially surrender my work and my future to Him to allow Him to do with me as He wills.
Confidence in His Providence
To have confidence that He will provide for me and take care of me. Just like a loving husband and father has the duty and desire to provide for his family, God is that same spouse and father (but even better!) to us and wants to see us taken care of, fulfilled, and happy. And only God can provide what is truly necessary and good for us ... even if we don’t think so or see it at the time.
Humility
To be humble, knowing that we can be sanctified through our work no matter what it is. Even though I haven’t landed a full time job in the field that I want, that doesn’t mean the part time jobs I’ll have in between are any less important or reduce my significance.
Patience
To be patient in waiting — and with that patience, to be fruitful and productive all the same. I like to think of it as a persistent patience in which while I’m waiting for one thing, I can persevere in doing valuable work elsewhere.
Maybe you’ve found yourself in a similar situation in the past, or are going through a rough patch right now. Whatever it is, don’t take it as defeat. Instead, look at it as a chance to learn and lean on God.
Even though I don’t have everything figured out and things aren’t the way I thought they’d be, I can always find peace and security in God. I’ll have to remind myself of this often, but I know that even my financial life is in God’s providential care.
