God’s Resume, Not My Own

“Can we just quit our jobs and talk about Jesus all day?” This question has come to mind many times since I first texted it to my friend last summer. Several months ago, I shared the question in my post “Season of Friendship.” And so, here we are again. It remains a question that God continues to impress in my spirit. 

“Can we just quit our jobs and talk about Jesus all day?” The short answer is, of course, “no.” However, God has a way of answering our questions and prayers in His way, not ours.  

I didn’t realize how God was working behind the scenes when I typed those words that day. However, I did know He was using my friendship with the person I was chatting with to help get me through a tough time. Like many times before, I was feeling frustrated and stuck. 

I also didn’t realize that God was transitioning me into a season of healing and restoration like no other time in my life. It didn’t mean that troubles wouldn’t still be present. But it did mean I would experience them and look at them through a different lens. It meant something remarkable was happening within and for me. It meant a time of rest and true intimacy with the Father was coming. An intimacy that would lead me to an understanding that, as Jennifer Dukes Lee would say, “...he will never call us to a life of burnout.”

I’ve always had a great need for my job and the work I do to represent my core values. I think my resume reflects those values and who I am. But no matter what position I’ve filled over the years, I felt something was missing. I wanted to continuously move up, strive for more, and go further. 

I remember changing my college major three or four times. Somehow managing to graduate at 21 years old, and in four years, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree. My concentration had been in Psychology and Sociology, so I knew I wanted to work with people in some capacity. I knew I was a teacher, helper, and counselor. And I knew I wanted to make a difference in the world around me. 

Looking at my resume between 2002 and 2017, one might think I was confused about my purpose and who I wanted to be when I grew up. Others may not be able to recognize the alignment of my job history, but I do. I see a divine orchestration of the exact experiences I needed to bring me to the place I am today. The place God prepared and will continue to prepare.  

I admit, I haven’t always seen it that way. It’s taken a lot of prayer and hard conversations with God. It’s taken many “It’s not fair” and “Why me, Lord” moments too. I didn’t always understand, and I continued to want more when He was the one who decided my timelines. But now, when I look at my work life on paper, I see it. I see His answers to my prayers. And I see His promises. 

He gave me ten years of working with families and children, one on one, in their homes. He gave me a year of uncertainty, returning to school to study an unexpected trade that allowed me to work with my husband for the next few years. The beauty industry provided the opportunity to serve women– an answer to a prayer I had prayed long before I met my husband—a prayer for me to find a place in women’s ministry. 

Owning a business afforded me the chance to return to graduate school. But, I will warn you. The toddler tantrums began after receiving my Master's in Human Services Counseling…along with the tantrums entered, the relentless thoughts of “I am stuck” and “I never get what I want.” 

It had taken me 14 years to decide what I wanted to get a Master’s degree in, and I finally knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. But…what was God up to? 

My husband and I moved to Florida from South Carolina in 2017. I was in my last semester of graduate school, and I had somehow landed a position that I was told required a Master’s degree. In the beginning, I enjoyed my work. However, as time passed, people came and went, workloads changed, burnout set in, and I became resentful that God would have me return to school for a degree I didn’t feel I was using. I didn’t feel heard, and I felt stuck. 

In 2019 I was on a quest for freedom. I just knew if I found a position suitable for the degree I obtained, I would have harmony and solitude. I would have made it. That year, I was offered two jobs that I was convinced provided the keys to my freedom.

Let’s pause here. When you decide to pursue something like freedom and do so from a faith perspective, be prepared for the Lord to put an immediate spin on things.  

Hearing yourself say, “I’ll get back to you,” to a potential employer when you know your heart wants something proves that God cares about you. Fasting and praying before saying “yes” or “no” proves that God cares about your needs. And the answer being “no” when you want it to be “yes” is always God’s protection over your life. 

This was and is my truth. This was me finding freedom from myself. This was knowing that prayer keeps us submitted to His will and not our own. 

I remained at the same job (eventually transitioning into a different position) for another three years. And in those three years, I became more open to God growing me. He opened doors to growing me in patience, purpose, and boldness. He helped me learn to set boundaries as a servant leader. He helped me understand that even in my stubbornness, He would protect me. He showed me that this wasn’t about my resume, but His purpose for my life.   

In January 2023, I prayed about what to say at my work goodbye luncheon for the job I held for 5.5 years. I believe the scripture God led me to share was as much for me as it was for my co-workers. Romans 12:6-16 reads, 

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!”

After accepting my new job this year, I met a treasured mentor for lunch to celebrate and catch up. “You have such a great skill set,” she said. I responded, “Sometimes you have to be in front of the right person at the right time.” You see, she was the person God used in 2017 to bring me here, and even outside of our work, we continue to leave footprints on one another’s hearts.  

In her book, “What’s Here Now?”, Jeanne Stevens states, “I began to realize that a real life was not going to be found in rehearsing the future. It would only be found in learning to receive the here and now.” 

Stevens also says, “I began to see I am always at the right place at the right time, and every time I begin to deny this I bury untold stories deep inside myself and forfeit my soul.”

Spoiler alert - the job I accepted and am currently working in has a potential end date of September 2025…challenging me, God has called me to find His truth in Jeanne Stevens’ words. 

I’ve learned that I must allow God to write my resume– but not in the context we immediately think of. My resume documents more than my job history, work experience, or college degree. The most important lines of my resume include my testimony and my everyday life. Our resumes are often about the footprints of Christ in the lives we’ve influenced over time.

And guess what? The resume God writes for me permits me to have a job and to talk about Jesus all day.  

I know I am not alone in the pressures of figuring life out, who I am, and what I want to do. I wasn’t alone in those circumstances in my twenties, and I’m not alone in that scenario now in my forties. What I have now that I didn’t have then is the realization that my purpose has always been the same. That purpose hasn’t been about me building a resume to reflect how quickly I moved up or how long I stayed in a particular role. My resume isn’t about me at all. At this time in my life, I can say with a boldness I didn’t previously hold in my spirit— it’s not even my resume to write. It is His and His alone.