Answered Prayer in the Form of a New Job

I've waited a long time to be able to write this blog post.

This is probably going to be a long one.  But it's a good one.

As you know, this past May I turned in my resignation at the school I taught at for the past 2 years.  I didn't have a job lined up; no definite plans.  But Matt and I knew that it was time.  We knew that God was telling us to step out in faith and follow His leading.  So we did.

I started out incredibly optimistic.  After a month or so with no leads and no word from schools or districts, I started to wonder if I had made the wrong decision.  But no, I knew I had done what I was supposed to do.  Clearly I had some bad days - I blogged on the worst one.  But then I always bounced back.

Just after the 4th of July weekend, I started getting calls for interviews.  I went to these interviews knowing that they were not the schools or the district that Matt and I had been praying for, but God had opened the doors and I was going to see what was behind them.

While they were great schools with wonderful people, none of them felt right.  Matt and I continued to go to the Lord in prayer, asking for guidance and wisdom.  Asking that He would just give us a peace when the right school came along - that it would feel right.  As a result, I turned down two schools and declined to return for a second interview at another school.  They just didn't feel right.

Two weeks ago I truly felt that something big was going to happen.  I thought to myself, "THIS is the week!  This week I will get a job offer!  This week, prayers will be answered!"

That Tuesday I got a call from a principal of a school in the district we had been praying for.  It wasn't the school we had prayed for, but it was in the top five.  I was excited!  I met the principal at a large job fair the following day, had a preliminary interview with the director of HR for the district, and set up a campus interview for Friday morning.

I left with mixed feelings.  I had hoped that I would be offered a job that day, and I hadn't been.  I then looked forward to Friday.  Still believing that this was THE week, I thought surely I would get offered the job on Friday.

I didn't.

But they did ask me to return for the third and final portion of the interview process the following Monday.  I was excited, thinking the end was near.

But wouldn't you know it?  TEN MINUTES before I left for the interview on Monday, I got a text from a friend of mine.  A job had become available at the school Matt and I have been praying for.  My dream job at my dream school.  I was fairly sure I was going to get the other job up until that point.  But this was no coincidence.  As I walked out the door to my apartment, I said out loud, "God, what are You doing...??!"

The interview on Monday went well, but I found out that evening that I did not get the job.  I was slightly disappointed, but not entirely surprised.  After the interview that day, I just kept thinking that the job opening up at my #1 school could not be a coincidence.  I had a sneaking suspicion that I might not get the job I had just interviewed for, because the job we have prayed for for MONTHS just opened up, and sometimes God does strange things.  Great things, but strange.

Less than two hours after I found out I didn't get the job, I got a call from the principal at the school we have prayed for, asking me to come in the following morning for an interview.

So Tuesday morning I set out for the interview, excited but anxious - I wanted this job so badly!  I got there twenty minutes early and just prayed hardcore in the parking lot.  Once in the interview, I calmed down considerably.  When I left, I felt that it went well, and I prayed that I would have an answer by the end of the day.  Throughout the day, I heard some very encouraging things, but no official offers.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling less optimistic than before.  I had an interview with another school in a different district at 11:15 and I hoped that I would hear something before then so I wouldn't have to go to that interview - I didn't want to waste their time.  I was so torn.  I couldn't decide if the interview was a test to see how much I trusted God or if it was nothing and I was just playing mind games.  I prayed, then sought the counsel of a few wise friends, and started out the door.  I didn't feel right heading to the interview, but I had prayed that God would speak to me through the people I called, and they said "go".

Not even five minutes from my house, I received a phone call from the principal at my dream school.  He was calling to offer me the job!  As soon as I got off the phone, I began to cry.  Like, ugly cry.  You know, sobs, contorted face, makeup running.  That kind.  I was just so overwhelmed by this answered prayer and God's great plan!

I am BEYOND EXCITED about this!  When Matt and I prayed for this school, we knew it wasn't extremely likely.  But we knew that if God wanted me there, He could get me there.  That's the tricky part though.  We knew what we wanted.  We didn't know what GOD wanted.  It seems, though, that in this case they were the same thing!  Perhaps God put this school on my heart.  Perhaps He has been leading me to this place for a long time.  But I am so incredibly thankful.

Not only did God answer my prayers about the job, He provided me with so many wonderful people who were supportive, encouraging, and lifted me up in prayer.  Y'all are the best!