Rejection is Redirection

Today I realized that there are times when God says “no” to things that I desire simply because He has a far better option in mind for me. For a four-year period, I searched for jobs every single day. I was prepared. I was confident. I was well qualified. I had received many, many interviews, both first and second interviews, but I did not receive the job offers I had in mind. At the beginning of my search, I received a few job offers; however, they were not opportunities that were ideal for me. So I put my faith to work and continued the search.

For the next three and a half years, I did not receive a single job offer despite having tons of interviews. It felt like God had left me and forgotten about me. I didn’t understand why I could not receive a job offer that was aligned with my skills and experience. It was a very trying time for me. Nonetheless, I kept pressing. I kept applying for jobs, networking, and doing all the things that I knew I needed to do to get a job.

Things began to change for me in that fourth year. After years of unsuccessful interview experiences, not only did I get a job offer from the federal agency that I wanted to work for, I also received a second job offer that was a far better professional opportunity and paid significantly more money. These job offers came on the heels of me being sick for a two-year period. I had ovarian cancer, which had not been diagnosed until almost 16 months into my illness. That was during the period where I was continually interviewing for jobs but not receiving job offers. What I came to realize is that God knew I could not handle the stress of a new professional opportunity while cancer was growing in my body unbeknownst to me. I needed to stay in the job that I had because it offered maximum flexibility that allowed me to keep working, keep earning, keep my health insurance, and keep on doing all the things I needed to do in order to recover.

The wisdom of God was at work for me in a way that I hadn’t recognized. God knew that I could not handle the responsibilities of a new job at the time that I would be faced with the challenge of restoring my health. I desired a new job at the time, but God knew better. He knew that it wasn’t a good time for me. He knew that I needed the job that I wasn’t as happy with because it was the environment in which I could relax professionally and focus more on my health.

It became clear to me that God had always intended to bless me with a better career opportunity. As soon as I regained good health, I had two amazing job offers waiting for me. All along God intended to bless me. It was simply a matter of His timing, which was the best timing for me.

The entire experience taught me that indeed a delay is not necessarily a denial. God simply reserves His blessings for times that are best for our needs. He is always conscious of our prayer requests, the desires of our heart, and those things that are best for us. Even though you may have been rejected from certain professional opportunities, don’t lose heart. Trust that God has closed the door simply because the timing is not right for you, and the opportunity itself is not right for you. But praise God for the ideal blessing that is to come.

I can tell you from experience that it is well worth the wait. I now have a job that I love. I love it as much as I could love any job and I earn significantly more money than I thought I would earn in my next career opportunity. Now, I’m at a place in my life where I can shred all of the professional rejection letters that I received. Why? Because I know that those opportunities were simply God redirecting me to the perfect professional opportunity for me.