One thing I've learned during this 'season' of being unemployed is how to recognize when God is working. It reminds me of that quote from the Narnia series (was it The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?) "Aslan is on the move." Well, God is always on the move. Never tiring. Never ceasing. Amazing.
Just a little background on me. My first experience with DC was for an internship at The Smithsonian Associates. How that internship came about is still crazy to me. I had never once in my life thought about living in DC, but applying for internships at the Smithsonian just sounded so cool! Plus my Dad was being considered for a job in DC (he was working in Baghdad at the time). I figured, why not apply for internships, just in case my Dad gets a job. That would be free rent, which would be GREAT for an unpaid internship (not to mention the relief it would have been to have him back stateside). Well, by the time the job fell through, I had already asked my professors for recommendation letters, and they had already sent them. I felt I should at least apply for the internships I had chosen, since they had done that part of the work. So I filled out the applications, although I did skip writing the essay they wanted! How lazy!!! Imagine my surprise when one of them contacted me about a phone interview - and then told me the next day that I had been chosen for the job!
Whoa! I had never been to DC in my life, and I was about to move there. Which is very much like my grad school experience, but that's another story. I found a place to live and moved here for 10 weeks. And what a cool experience! I really got to see the inner workings of the Smithsonian, plus they treat their interns really well, lots of perks - as I mentioned before their internships are unpaid most of the time, so they try really hard to make it fun. :)
After my internship, I moved back to Texas to finish my last year of grad school. I worked for a summer at the Dr Pepper Museum, but moved home after not finding a job that could pay my bills.
After visiting my old DC roommates, I learned that one of the rooms was coming open. Since I couldn't find any type of job in Arkansas, I moved back, all the while thinking I would find a museum job. Never would I have guessed I would have found instead my way back to God + a great church!
All this time in DC (4.5 years) I haven't had much luck with the museum business. It's something that I've definitely put on the back-burner; and I have just now realized that I had convinced myself that it's something God just didn't want for me, something that He had chosen not to give me. I basically gave it up.
Well, back to present time. Through a friend at church who works at the Air & Space Museum, I now have the opportunity to volunteer at the story time hour! Tomorrow I will be observing a program and speaking with one of the education specialists. Probably the coolest thing about all of this is that it's something I didn't seek out. I knew she worked at this museum, and had been considering emailing her, but just never got around to it. I sat next to her one Sunday night, and we started talking after the service, and this all came up. So I definitely know this came about from God, not my own strength. As my friend Ronna would say, Yay God!
And let me be clear, I'm not expecting or putting my hope in a job coming out of this. But I'm still really excited, because God has already taught me a lesson with this! Wanna know what it is?
So as I mentioned above, I had pretty much convinced myself that God didn't want this type of career for me. And now I can see that I thought this way because I felt as though He was punishing me. I thought - why would I deserve a job like this, something I even went to school for, when the whole reason I chose this type of career is because I wasn't trusting that He would provide for me. That I had to do it all myself. In that and other ways I hadn't honored Him, so of course I wouldn't be given this desire.
But as He has been teaching me, He's my Father! My Heavenly Father who loves me perfectly. Not only that, but He doesn't punish me for any of my mistrust of Him in my past. And how do I know this? Because I know His son. I know that He sent Jesus to die for all of my sins. That any punishment I deserve was dealt with on the cross. That work is completed, finished. And through Christ's life, death, resurrection and ascension I have been adopted as His daughter. When He looks at me, He sees Christ's righteousness:
Ephesians 1:
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Because of Christ, I've been adopted in God's family. When God looks at me, He sees Jesus - who is holy and blameless; that's what it means to be His child. Now that is amazing!
So yeah, me going in tomorrow and meeting with this woman could lead to volunteering, which would be another way to not 'waste my unemployment.' And it could be a great way for me to 'get my foot in the door' which would be great for me considering my educational background. But I know that this doesn't guarantee a job in a museum. However, God has already taught me in a real way, that is unique to me, how there is no more condemnation. Christ has ALREADY done that work on the cross. How could I not trust in this God?
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