In the fall
of 1989, while working for a software publisher in the Chicago area, I was
given advance notice that my company was being sold. I was grateful my boss had given me some time
to seek another job. Over a three-to-six-month
period, however, I sent out 200 resumes, with no real response. With over 20 years of professional
experience, I quickly learned I was going to have a difficult time finding a
job in the Chicago area since I did not have a degree. I determined I needed to market myself in a
new way – I needed to find a good company in a smaller community where there
wasn’t such an abundance of degreed applicants.
I went to the library and did
a great deal of research related to where I wanted to live, what kind of
company I wanted to work for, and what I wanted to do. I zeroed in on Flagstaff, AZ, and ordered their
daily newspaper (no Internet yet), so I could keep current on job openings. I also planned to fly the re the
day after my company closed in order to check out the
surroundings. I applied for jobs in
Flagstaff but was specifically seeking employment with Gore & Associates, a
medical products company known for the ir
humanistic qualities. In January of
1990, I applied for a Human Resources position and called periodically to check
my status. I was really concerned I
wouldn’t have a chance for the job,
though, because I couldn’t leave my current job until May 31st or I
would forfeit my severance pay. Each
time I called Gore, it seemed the job-filling process had been delayed for some
reason. As time went on, I also continued
to search the Chicago area. In April, I received a call for a phone
screen from Gore. In the meantime, I had
scheduled my flights to spend the first week of June in Flagstaff. Sometime after the phone screen, I received a
call from Gore asking if I could possibly be in Flagstaff the first week of
June! Amazing Grace! After a
second interview trip in July, I was offered the
job! I put my townhome on the market and
by August 1st, I was heading to Arizona!
My friend
Pam offered to make the drive from
Chicago to Flagstaff with me—we had a fantastic three-day journey. In fact, about 25 miles outside of Flagstaff,
on Route 40, Pam said to me: “There’s the Flagstaff Peaks—your new home—how does it
feel?” I paused, looked at her and
said: “I hope I’m making the right decision—I think I need a sign—maybe if I
see a rainbow, I’ll know I’m doing the
right thing.” Within seconds, there was
a huge rainbow in the sky – for the
next three nights, the moon was
encircled by a rainbow—a sight I had never seen before, nor since!
This whole
process took many Invisible Hands
that became obvious to me when all was said and done.
In fact, I remember at one point, after the second interview in
Flagstaff - I literally sat in the middle of my kitchen floor with my head in
my hands, having no idea if this job was going to come to fruition (I had just been
told it was between one other applicant and me, a 50-50 chance!). I had this feeling I had now placed
everything in one basket called Flagstaff and possibly I hadn’t put enough energy
in the local possibilities – what was I going to do if the Flagstaff position
didn’t come through? But, it did!
This is
a special learning about God’s Grace, which requires growing in trust and faith
while struggling through our human world.
I thank God often now because I always see His Invisible Hands at work in whatever I do. We very often don’t realize all the help
we’re getting from the Spirit world – I just know I’m very grateful for positively everything.
