Waiting

I am waiting to find out if I will have a job after June 30. My employer did not win the follow-on contract award and I have not yet heard from the new contractor. And I am at perfect peace.

Eleven years ago, I was in a job-crisis. As part of a Congressional base realignment and closure, our office was directed to close and relocate all personnel to Charleston, SC.

I was not at peace. I was a mess. I was stressed, anxious, and paralyzed by fear.

I quickly developed a game plan. Plan A was to find another local federal job; Plan B to request a relocation to the Norfolk area near extended family; and Plan C, my least desired, retire under discontinued service and get a federal contractor job.

Did I mention I was anxious, desperate and fearful? No local federal jobs were panning out. I did get a federal job offer in Norfolk, but I felt uneasy - actually sick to my stomach - about moving. I realized Plan C was my only choice, so I reluctantly submitted my resume to a contractor for consideration.

A few days later, I got a call from the contractor with a job offer. A really good job offer. Then literally fifteen minutes later, I got a call from the Office of Personnel Management with information I had requested - a year earlier - about service credit for retirement. Plan C was evidently the Lord’s plan for me.

Adjusting to contractor life after 28 years in federal service was a challenge. I have had some hard years, some really hard years and some good years.

Over the past decade, I have watched the Lord accomplish the impossible and the unexpected. He has provided and guided. He has been my comfort and constant companion. He is trustworthy and faithful. I have learned that God will sometimes use what I desire the least to accomplish His most. Where I am today is the sum of God's math: He has added, subtracted, divided and multiplied, all for my good.

So I am waiting differently this time. I do not know what will come next, but I do know that I can trust the Lord to work out His perfect plan. And I know that it is in the stillness of my surrendered and willing heart that my life will take wings…and I will journey beyond anything I could ever ask, think…or plan.

I wait expectantly, anticipating what the Lord is going to do. Because I know it will be good…really good!

For I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I will make a pathway through the wilderness.

I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

~ Isaiah 43:19