Providence...

This year continues to throw us surprises.  We have been incredibly blessed in such a short time!  To start from the beginning though...

B started hard core job hunting last fall.  We had several interviews spaced out throughout the fall and none of them produced an offer.  A couple of these interviews were awesome and we both had great feelings about them.  Therefore, when no job offer came, we were pretty disappointed.  One in particular seemed absolutely perfect.  We felt the door had been opened at this particular location and waited somewhat patiently to hear back if there would be an offer.  After a couple of weeks (and an election), the door was closed on this opportunity.  We struggled some with this one as we truly felt God moving during the interview process.  (Just prior to us hearing that they would not be able to make a job offer, I had prayed that God would clearly shut doors where we did not belong.  There was a sense of peace as I let go.  It is hard to explain, but I distinctly remember one Sunday in church thinking, maybe this isn't it...maybe we need to let go of this one...)  Once we realized that this was not the place for us, the search continued and the prayers continued fervently.

The holidays came and went with not much headway and discouragement set in.  Trying to be an encouraging wife can be tough when so much is out of our control.  I continued to trust the Lord that He was sparing us from things we could not see and that He had something even better out there for us.  During the holidays, we also received a couple more "no's" or "not yet's" and frankly, some of them were baffling and handled strangely.  We struggled to not let this consume us, but there comes a point where it is always in the background.  The need for the future was surely there and it started to feel like time was just passing by while we stood still.

Then B was contacted out of the blue by this group asking for an interview.  He had sent out a ton of resumes to many, many groups in the fall whether they had job postings or not.  He honestly did not even remember sending this group his resume it had been so early on in his hunting.  And here they called him out of the blue.  They wanted to set something up soon and things fell into place for the interview to take place last week.  Leading up to the interview, it became rather apparent that they were pretty serious about B.  We continued to pray.  The interview was fantastic!  The group is awesome!  And they made an offer within a couple of days! 

It has amazed me to see God moving so evidently during this process.  From the disappointments to the continued hope that His plan was unfolding before us.  He was indeed saving us for something great!  Though it is hard to explain, this interview felt so different than the other ones for me.  There was a huge sense of hope and ease, but also this massive amount of nervousness as if we were on the verge of something huge.  Through the discouraging times and frustrating times, we have seen God's hand work ever so quickly, when it was His plan and timing.  Just after the interview, on our late night drive back, my constant prayer was that we would hear something quickly and that the excitement we both felt would be His affirmation to us that we were following His plan.  God could not have made it more obvious!  There were many things throughout the interview day, just prior and just after, that were so reaffirming!!

We still have many things yet to be done, some of which make my stomach clinch to think about them.  But I am reminded that God has orchestrated this entire life of mine.  He can handle the big things and the little things.  And He has definitely shown His love and grace in ways unimaginable and has shown us that He does indeed have better things in store for us.  Things that we would never expect ourselves!!