The Abundant Harvest from Our Helper

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” - Hebrews 13:6.  Our sister shares an encouraging testimony of how after 4 difficult years of waiting, trusting,and learning, God provided her a new job and new life almost overnight.

Do you ever have those weeks where things just seem to pile on top of each other, problem after problem? I can definitely say that I just went through one of the most unforeseeable and unexpected things in my life.

For about 4 years now, I was extremely unhappy at work. It wasn’t just about being unhappy, but my attitude was bitter for a good amount of those 4 years as I felt like I was being attacked from all sorts of directions. Every day seemed like forever and I couldn’t believe how emotionally abusive my work environment was.

I cried out. “God, why are you doing this to me? What are you trying to teach me?” I repeated this over and over for a very, very – VERY – long time.

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After more than three years of being at this company, God spoke to me about what my true purpose was. Not only did He want me to share the love that I had of His with the people at work, but He wanted to build my character in ways that I was obviously not aware of. Well into my third year with the company, my perspective going into work dramatically changed where I was not exactly happy, but what used to frustrate me so much that it would make me cry now wasn’t what it used to be.

Now, I know this sounds all quick and easy right? But let me tell you – this was
not so. I shared with people from multiple communities who I confided in about
my frustrations about work and pleaded for them to continue praying for me, not
because my faith was weak, but because I needed the spiritual support to endure. I refused to give up and if you knew me at all – giving up is NOT an option in my book and I usually do what I say, more times than not.

This sounds like a superhero story right? Don’t let me fool you! I, of course, was
submitting my resume for all kinds of different kinds of positions at this time, but
it was absolutely ridiculous with the lack of responses I got. There were more than enough times when I was so so discouraged, but what kept me going was trusting that God would lead me out of this absurdity. No luck – or was it God telling me to wait? Ecclesiastes 3:11, right? “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” You have no idea how many times I needed to forcefully remind myself of this passage and not take things into my own hands. Just barely treading water, I kept going – with faith.

…

Going going going… Alas - an interview! You better believe I was super super
stoooooooked!!! “God, You’ve finally decided to release me from these shackles.” …or so I thought. Result? Negative. WAH!

‘What? You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Again, I was so discouraged and after a few
days sulking in this rejection, I picked myself up knowing that the end would be
near! No hits for another few weeks, but I figured, if I could last over 3 ½ years with no sign, I’d be able to handle some more time (not much more, but some).

I’m going on a minor tangent, but I promise to get back to the point. The next
couple of weeks were filled with all sorts of completely random things happening
to my family. Every time, I thought, ‘Whoa, this totally came out of left field,’ but
regardless of how intense these “things” were (and let me tell you that ‘intense’
doesn’t begin to describe it), I kept turning to God to help me through it all.

Take note of these dates as I go into this next part.

So, July 19, 2011. In the midst of family hysteria, I attended a weekly prayer meeting I’d been attending for over a year in hopes that God would speak to me about what I’d been dealing with and encourage me. He revealed what was truly going on, which was a spiritual attack on me through my family. You better believe I was crying my eyes out! I guess I didn’t expect to what extent the enemy would do to try and break lil’ ole me. Au contraire!

The next series of things happened ridiculously quickly.

July 20, 2011. I went into work and towards midday, one of my old coworkers
messaged me inquiring about my job search. She asked me if I would be open to a position with the company she was employed with. Ok, what?

I mean, can you say “Hallelujah!”?

THE INTERVENTION - God is sooo sooo hilarious sometimes!

July 20, 2011 (continued). Submitted my resume midday and received a call later
that day for a pre-screening interview the following morning.

July 21, 2011. Had my pre-screening interview which went extremely well and was
impatiently waiting to hear back about, what I knew for sure was, the interview.

July 22, 2011. Was contacted about my interview for the following Monday.  Twas the weekend and for some reason, I was so confident that I was going to get
this job, but it was now just a matter of waiting. So I waited, waited.

July 25, 2011. Interview in the morning and if interviews were graded on a scale
from A-F, I totally ACED it. No regretful feelings of Oh I should’ve said this or that. In my 25 years, I never knew what true satisfaction felt until this very moment.

July 26, 2011. Found out that I got the job. I KNEW IT!!!

July 27, 2011. Gave in my notice.

July 28, 2011. Wrapped up my work.

July 29, 2011. Departed my company. PAYCE!

The weekend between stages – I was so distracted and excited by the quickness of it all that I didn’t even know what to think.

August 1, 2011. Started at the new company. HOWDY!

Do you even understand what happened? I barely could…

Within less than 2 weeks, God totally turned my world around and changed my
scenery. I’m sure you’re thinking, “But what about your 2 weeks notice?” God totally blessed me with not having to worry about that either. Crazy right?

Let me tell you this: my story sounds simple, but I can assure you that it was not so.  It took 4 years of perseverance and spiritual maturity until finally receiving God’s abundant blessings and it wasn’t easy. …and if you’re going through any sort of difficulty, let me encourage you with some of the things that God encouraged me with.

First, the Lord gave me a word a few months ago: Helper. I had no idea what this
meant, so I went to the Concordance in my Bible and looked up the references under the word, ‘Helper’. 3 results; the first 2, not applicable. The third was Hebrews 13:6, which says “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

BINGO! How true is that right? The Lord is our helper and we should not be afraid. What can man, pride, success, rejection or whatever we’re concerned about do to us? And on the topic of rejection, who else do we need to be accepted by other than our Lord Jesus Christ? He’s already accepted us so why worry? …and if you are indeed concerned about x or y, then seek the Lord for help because He is our helper.

Additionally, God gave me a vision: I was on a seemingly endless road with nothing on the left or right. Just the barest road you could imagine. Nothing at all. But with patience, I continued on this road and then found myself coming upon the word “HARVEST”. Even when I thought God had disregarded the countless prayers regarding my work situation, He reassured me that the harvest was near.

Folks, let this be a message to you! God will not leave you even if you think He has.

Be faithful, ask Him for help, and He will reward you with an abundant harvest – but, of course, in His time.

And, if I’ve successfully endured this four-year trial of emotional turmoil with Him
by my side, I’m confident in taking on loads more. Bring it on yo!