God Knows What He's Doing

The Lord's timing, in a word, is "perfect." Who would've thought that God would have perfect timing?

That's seems like a stupid and obvious question, but how many times do we (I) question what the Lord is doing to us or not doing for us right now? Answer: all the time. This week my family received a reminder and confirmation that God is, in fact, very mindful of us, loves us, and knows what He's doing (go figure).

There are many things that have happened in my life, mostly since I've been married, that have given me such strong faith that everything happens for a reason and, even if we don't understand it at the time, it works for our benefit in the long run. Instead of going into everything that has happened in my life, I thought I'd share the microcosm of the Lord's timing that was this week.

Many of you know that Doug finished his Master's degree last year and we thought that was perfect timing because Vivi was just turning one, so we figured by the time we got done with his degree he'd get a job and we'd move out of our teeny, tiny one-bedroom (400 sq/ft) apartment and move on with our lives just as she needed more room to run around. Well, we applied and applied for jobs but to no avail. So, after pondering we decided we'd make due with our apartment and that maybe Doug needed to go back to school to get another degree that made him more hire-able, gave him more job options. So, we started going through the process of research, application, etc. this fall.

One of the programs he applied for was BYU, which had a prerequisite of taking a class that specified interviewing several people in the social work field. During that process he found out about a job opening at Deseret Industries, so he applied to that job, as well. To make a complicated story simple and short, we really struggled with whether we should go to BYU or take the job (of which neither option had been offered to us yet) because we didn't want to turn down one opportunity if that's where we were supposed to be. Doug started the interview process with DI much before we were to find out about BYU, so we just weren't sure how this was all going to work out. After a while, it didn't look like he was going to get the job at DI, but we figured we just weren't supposed to be there, so looked forward to more grad schools and possibly applying to other jobs.

Then we found out. Doug did not get accepted into BYU. Honestly, I didn't feel that discouraged by it. Maybe because, while it would've been a great experience, there would have been some serious drawbacks (ie moving with a brand new baby, health insurance issues, income issues, etc). I'd like to think the majority of my calm at this decision was because of my developed faith that things happen for a reason. In a way, this made things easier, so we'd just have to look forward. It was still disappointing, though.

The very next day and 2.5 months after he started the interview process, Doug got a phone call from DI offering him the job we thought there was no way he would get. Hallelujah! It's the perfect fit for him and our family; the only issue is it doesn't make much more than his job at Children's, but there are opportunities for raises, to move up in the organization. It's a great place to be and a great opportunity.

Before, we were worried we might have to turn down a job at DI because we thought we were supposed to go to BYU without actually knowing if he got accepted (like I said, this job application process was super long, so we figured we'd know about the job long before BYU). But, the Lord arranged it so we knew for sure about BYU and then provided us with the huge blessing of this job opportunity the very next day.

I think the Lord has and continues to strengthen our faith and trust in Him with each of these 'timing issues.' I can say that a few years ago, finding out Doug didn't get into BYU and still not knowing for sure about DI would have really made me mad...maybe even a little mad at God. Heck, even just waiting for one year for Doug to get a job got frustrating sometimes! However, by giving us other instances earlier in our lives where it has been proven to me that the Lord's timing is perfect, I was able to be have peace and know that we just hadn't found where the Lord wanted us yet. Don't get me wrong, I've prayed and cried about this issue and we still have things to work about, but instances like this tell me that my prayers are heard and the Lord will provide for us. God knows what He's doing.