Since we are are in the season of college graduations and seeing as though today marks the two-year anniversary of my own, I thought it only fitting to share my bittersweet experience of the after-grad life. I stumbled upon this testimony of mine that I had posted on an old blog and felt that it may provide some encouragement for those in similar situations. This was from May 2011:
“Even though I can’t see the answers now, I know God will supply all of my needs.”
I believe I saw this quote in one of Joyce Meyer’s devotionals a year ago and it has stuck with me ever since. Around this time last year, I graduated from Old Dominion University (whoop, whoop…GO MONARCHS!) with a degree in English and had big plans. Like many college Seniors anticipating the step into the real world, I had in my mind that I was going to graduate, look for a job, and be on my way to a career in my field in no time! EEEEEENT! WRONG x 3!
It was all so sweet at first. Me and a few of my friends were all in the same place; fresh off the boat college graduates living the life! None of us had found jobs yet so we’d hang out late into the summer nights, playing video games, watching movies, and just enjoying one another’s company while milking the after-grad life for as loooong as we could. Then, slowly but surely, our easy days of just kickin’ it, began to dwindle. One by one, another person would find employment which threw a dent in our routine. Finally, it got to the point where everyone had a job, except me. *sad face* Now, it wasn’t like I wasn’t applying for jobsbecause I was, but I just never heard back from anyone. And if I did receive a reply, they would say in what I imagine was their most sincere voice, “Thank you for you application but you are just not what we want.” I could handle the occasional let down here and there but as time progressed, it started to wear on me mentally.
“It’s been this long and I still don’t have anything! All of my other friends are working but me! People keep asking me if I have a job yet, Lord when am I going to have something?”
Weeks went by and even months went by. And as much as I was believing God would make a way, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t doubt or worry about when that way would be made (hey, I’m only human). So, I continued to pray and seek God and in the meantime, I just got involved more in church and spent my free time reading my Bible and just spending time with God. It had been spoken into my life months before that God would provide me with more than enough so I just had to remember that promise.
It got really hard at times though and some people were so insensitive to my situation. They were always asking me, “Do you have a job yet? You got a job yet? Man, you STILL don’t have a job?” It was so embarrassing not only for them to ask me that but to have to reply with a, “Nooo, not yet,” without holding my head down and feeling like crap. There was so much pressure; the pressure to get a job at all, the pressure of fitting the societal norm of being employed, the pressure to provide for myself, and the pressure to get those stupid student loans paid off! There were times when I would cry to God and ask Him when my time was coming. But despite all that I experienced, I know that was strengthening me and testing my faith in Him.
Monday May 7, 2012 marked the year anniversary of my college graduation.
I still had no job. I even decided to point out to God that I was STILL unemployed (because you know we like to point things out to Him as if He doesn’t already know). So in the meantime, while still looking for jobs, I had purposed to start working on a business venture that the Lord placed in my heart to do and began doing so. A few days later, a family friend of mine tells me that she knows a lady who is hiring where she works. So she told me to send my resume to her. I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t know much about the place or position, but what do I have to lose?” I sent my resume and thought nothing else of it.
For the days to follow, the lady and I were playing phone tag. Finally, we scheduled an interview for Friday, May 11. I had my interview and she said she loved my answers and she seemed to like me as well. Then, Tuesday of the following week, I get a phone call saying that I got the job! Now mind you, I did not deliberately seek after this job and apply for it, I technically was not even qualified for the job, AND here’s the kicker…it was only FIVE minutes away from my house! You cannot tell me that was not God working my situation out for my good! God’s timing is PERFECT! Even when we feel like He’s not doing anything, He is working it out!
So for anyone who may be growing weary of waiting on the Lord or is becoming impatient for things to come to pass, continue to trust in Him and believe He will come through. I know that can be difficult at times but you have got to learn to trust Him even when you can’t trace Him. Psalms 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Remember what God has said (He will never leave you or forsake you; Deuteronomy 31:6) and believe that He will come through! He did for me 
