Ezra's Prayer and Our's....Answered

Two months ago, my husband and I decided we would take the 40 days before our anniversary and we would pray together, and fast, specifically about what direction in his career he should be focusing on.  He had his fingers in so many pies and all the pies tasted great, but was there a better pie than another?!  We needed God to show us.

Yesterday I read Ezra 8:21.  I had read this passage before, but I hadn't underlined it.  Yesterday I underlined it.  This is what it says, "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods....So we fasted and implored our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty."

That's what we did, too.  We implored God for this and He listened to our entreaty.  We were praying for a "safe journey for ourselves, our children and our goods".  The safe journey also needed to have a clear path, one that would get us where we needed to go without going off-track.  We needed this not just for ourselves but for our children so that we could provide for them, too.  Like I said, He listened.

On day 1 of the fast, I was out with a friend.  This was two months ago.  That was when I heard about her being debt-free.  I shared with her how I was struggling, my husband was struggling.  What were we supposed to do? I explained how there was so much potential, but we weren't experiencing the freedom we longed for, nor were we 100% sure which area of work we were supposed to pursue.  Her husband was a prof at a local university.  It has often been suggested all along my husband's career that he work in an engineering department, but he doesn't have his ph.d. and even if he did, this university doesn't have an engineering department anyway.

I explained the quandary to her, how working at a university seemed ideal, but impossible without him going back to school for a loooong time.  She was very knowledgable about the local colleges though and strongly encouraged that as there are good engineering tech departments.  We'd looked before, but jobs aren't always available, so we hadn't looked in that area for awhile.  Plus, we were hesitant to apply for a full-time teaching position as that would limit my husband incredibly.  He loves being an entrepreneur and yes, it would bring stability, but at what cost?  Entrepreneurs aren't good at sitting at desks all day.  If they aren't doing what they love, it is a form of torture.  This same friend's husband, however, loves his job.  He's doing something he enjoys so much that is doesn't feel like torture to him.

I left that day feeling two things.....the battle had started.  On the one hand, Satan was trying desperately to discourage me, "You're not out of debt like her.  What are you doing wrong?  Too bad you can't be like them.  I guess you never will be out of debt.  Oh well.  Poor you."  But, on the other hand, I was kind of excited.  I was determined to go home and encourage my husband to look one more time on the college job site.  I was determined to encourage him by her story of being debt-free instead of being worn down by Satan's attack.  I could see the enemy's tactics and I was not going to let him win.  This is where is gets funny.

I walked in the door ready to tell him, "Hey, you should hear the conversation I had to today.  I was just thinking you should......."  I hadn't even gotten my sentence out when my husband said, "I applied at the college today."  WHAT?????!!!!!  Had he read my mind?  Had he been there picking berries with us the whole time without me noticing him????  No, God had prompted him to look without me even saying anything.  Wow.  It turns out if he had waited for me to get home it would have been too late.

On the job site of the college that day, he had quickly scanned and there before him was a job that was being taken down that day.  It was the last day it was being posted.  It may as well have been written for him with his name on it.  I'm actually shocked they didn't mail him the application form because everything in the job description had my husband's name on it.  He quickly whipped up a resume from 12 years ago and threw a cover letter together and made it with minutes to spare before they took it down.  All this while I was out picking berries getting ready to tell him to apply when I got home.

This job was PERFECT.  It was part-time, ideal, only 3 days a week, with the potential for full-time if more funding came through.  That way he could still do his entrepreneurial work on the off-days and even have his summers off for farming.  Like I said, a perfect fit.  It wouldn't be teaching, which he didn't love anyway, but instead it would be a research/industry liason position, meaning he would be doing what he does all day anyway, working with others in the industry helping them get their products to market and mentoring students as they work in the same process.  Unbelievable.  How we prayed and lifted this up before the Lord, imploring Him again and again.  Could this possibly be the answer we had hoped for?  The neat thing was this might be more than just a little job giving us some financial stability.  It might also be a way to bring in his other work and provide amazing connections and networking opportunities allowing his other businesses to succeed as well!  We could only hope. All that on day 1.

The rest of the summer we could only wait....what a looooong summer of waiting.  We started to notice the college checking out his linkedin profile all the time.  Hmmmm....they seemed interested in him.  Then, finally, the first interview....seemed to go well.  It was hard not to get excited.  We were telling no one so it was hard to keep this to ourselves.  We just didn't want expectations to get up in ourselves or anyone else and then to be disappointed......

Then interview 2.....this was looking good!  References were asked for.....another great sign!

Then....yesterday, I read that verse in the morning.  A verse I had read a long time ago and I was reminded how we had prayed and fasted.  The verse said He had listened to our entreaty. Midafternoon, he got the email, "We are thrilled (love that word!) to offer you the position."  WE ARE THRILLED TO ACCEPT, I felt like yelling!!!!

All I can say is, "Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for listening to our entreaty, for giving us the direction we sought, for allowing a position like this to even be created, for showing us at the same time in different places that this was something to consider, for giving us the experience to even apply, for making it so exactly suited to us, part-time, and for his skill set......"

It really is a miracle.  He starts Monday!  Yikes.  How our life is going to change!  One of the questions the interviewers asked was, "So how will you do this job and run a full-time business?" They knew he was an entrepreneur.  His answer was classic entrepreneur...."There are more than 8 hours in a day."  They looked at each other and said, "You don't hear that very much."  Yup.  So he's going to be busy.  He's got a major contract due in March or earlier, which is going to take up a lot of his time without this job.  But we are not complaining, it just means every moment is spoken for!  A small bonus, is that it really is a local school, so his commute isn't on the major highways, but down country roads.  He's going to love driving to work!  What a blessing.

If I could have prayed for an ideal answer when we were first started our time of praying and fasting, I would have asked for this exact situation, as I really didn't want him to have to give something up.  I wanted the financial stability for sure, but I really wanted my husband to be happy, too, and to somehow be able to keep on pursuing his entrepreneurial interests and farming as he also loves farming!  This was a big request and quite obnoxious, really!  This amazingly allows him to do all of that and provides that extra stability we've longed for.  What an amazing God that would even be able to create a position like that and would know and care enough about our extra wishes and desires.  As Ezra 3:11 says, "For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever...."  I'm in awe.