So…how did it go?” I eagerly asked. My husband had just finished his second interview for a position to which he had recently applied. In typical DJ fashion, he responded “What interview?” He always likes to hold out when I’m anxious for information, just to see me squirm. “Come on!” I replied. He laughed, then eventually began. “It went really well. By the end of the interview, they were trying to sell me on the job and kept saying things like ‘When you start here…etc.’” He continued. “And that’s not the best part. With the salary and bonuses combined, we’d be bringing home about $300,000 a year!”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” I responded. Everything he said after that was a blur. I couldn’t even begin to process what that would mean for us. I immediately began to think of all the student loan debt and medical bills we could pay off. Then my mind moved to the fact that we could finally get a family car (We had been driving my two-door Honda Accord from college, and getting a toddler into a car seat in a car like that was getting cumbersome to say the least) . . . “But there’s a problem.” The concern in his voice brought me back from my daydreaming.
“They won’t let me work remotely, and their days are long. I would have to leave before Micah wakes up to commute to the city (we were still in the Chicagoland area at the time), and I would miss his bedtime most days.” He continued. “They tried to sell me on the fact that I could take days off for family events whenever I want, but that’s not enough.”
I knew exactly what he was getting at. Years ago, before we got married, we talked about our desire for both of us to be home, present, and fully involved in our family’s life. At the time, we didn’t see how something like that could happen unless I was finished with medical training and working part-time, and his investments and start-ups took off. Well, none of those things have happened and here we are living out our impossible dream every day (See “New Things and Impossible Dreams“). My husband works from home, and I’m obviously enjoying life as a stay-at-home mom. We knew God had given us this special gift; how could we give it up so easily?
After that conversation, we continued through the rest of the evening, totally engrossed in our own thoughts. Later, when we spoke about it, we decided that we would pray the following prayer: If the job was to be ours, the company would give him an offer and we would take it. If not, obviously it wasn’t meant for us.
If I’m honest, we prayed this seemingly simplistic prayer, knowing that there was only one way it could go. Based on how his interviews and conversations went, we knew they really liked him, and he was bound to get an offer . . . or so we thought.
In the days that followed, DJ was contacted by the Senior Director with a strange request. He wanted to know, with certainty, that DJ was okay with the work hours and with the fact that the position was not remote, before he sent over an offer letter. Curveball. We did not see that one coming.
Sometimes, God sees past the words of your prayer, and answers to your heart. Instead of giving us an offer letter, we were faced with a question we knew we had to answer honestly. As much as the money would’ve changed things for us, He knew what our true desire was, and He set us up to make the right decision.
Needless to say, because of DJ’s response, we weren’t given an official offer letter. And funny enough, we couldn’t be happier!
