Something happened today (October 5th), and through it, God taught me a lesson that was ten years in the making!
There is a verse that my good friend, Frank, has been quoting to me since the first day we've met (around 8 years now). It is Romans 8:28, which says:
"We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all thingsThis verse has helped me through various pains and struggles, but little did I know how true and how real this verse was to my whole life (BTW, this verse is true to all who are called according to His purposes... which means all of us!). Let me explain.
work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love
God and are called according to [His] design and purpose."
We often go through life, encountering difficulties, pains, obstacles, hurts, suffering, blessings, honours, mercies, and a whole lot more. Yet, we rarely know how each event connects to us and to our whole life. Rarely, and especially when you are in it, does a storm of life look like something beneficial for your future life. However, God uses ALL things for our good, even when we do not see it. What has happened in my own life is proof positive of God's faithfulness and goodness.
This part of the story begins about 10 years ago.
I graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1995. During those 9 and a half years, I started a Master's and never completed it. I worked for a company called Wavesat (which has completely changed since I worked there), and was laid off, along with 40 other employees, about 10 months later. I then went unemployed for another 10 months, at which point I landed a part-time teaching job at Dawson College. 8 months later, after months of fruitless job searching, I took a part-time job at a coffee shop called Pekarna. 4 months later, I was made manager at Pekarna. At the same time, I also managed to get some part-time teaching substitution work at Dawson each semester. But to say I was earning what my education supposedly said I deserved would be a lie.
During that time, I also got married and bought a triplex... which is a total miracle and a subject of a future post!
So here I was, an engineer by education, a part-time teacher and coffee-shop manager by profession, married, land-owner and over $20K in debt (not including my car and mortgage), and I was barely making $20K a year! On top of all that, I was unable to even land an interview for an engineering position... I've had a total of 5 interviews since I was laid off from Wavesat: 1 at Pekarna (got the job), 2 at a medical imaging company (did not get either position), and 2 at Dawson (one for the teaching positions and one for a technician position and I got both... the technician position is part of what I learnt from God!)
When you look at the last 10 years of my life, I have asked myself and God, "Why all this?" Each event looks so separate. Why have I had so much difficulty finding an engineering job... and I even thought and believed with all my heart that I had a great chance this summer at a position with Tyco Fire & Security, but even that fell through. I have had to work many hours, and many evening shifts to make ends meat, which then caused some relational difficulties between my wife and I (it's hard to maintain, forget about grow, a relationship when your wife is at work or school all day and you're working all night, and you SEE each other for half an hour each day).
I have thought and asked myself many times over the last four years if I had made a mistake with my career choices and my education. I felt like I wasted 10 years of my life, and if I extend it to my undergraduate studies, I have wasted 14 years of my life... that's almost half my lifetime!
BUT, as I said today God has shown me that everything I went through these past 10 years was not all for naught. Today I received my salary adjustment for the technician's position I got at Dawson. First off, I have to say that this job was totally God's provision. There are no teaching positions in my field at Dawson this or next semester, unless someone falls extremely ill, and the next part-timer in line does not want the job... which is unlikely, because he's been holding out for a full-time position for the last 6+ years, taking any and all courses thrown his way. Anyway, I also had to beat out another engineer who had much more experience than I did, and also had networking knowledge, which I don't. By God's grace, I did beat him out and I got my first full-time job in an engineering-related field in almost 4 years.
Here is where the really good news comes. The starting salary was $16.65/hr or so, which when you're making $10/hr plus tips and when you consider that it is a technicians job and not an engineering job, it is great! I had to also get them my school transcripts and letters of attestation of employment from my previous employers. With this information they would adjust my salary according to my experience. Well, I was expecting a dollar or two more. My wife and I were praying and hoping for something like $19/hr. What did God give me... well, with out giving out the actual salary, let me put it this way. I'm making more than I did while working at Wavesat as an engineer, at the same time I will never work overtime (because they have to pay extra and they are not willing to) while at Wavesat I was expected to work unpaid overtime... and I did, often working 60-70 hour weeks. The environment is almost totally stress free, while Wavesat was a pressure cooker of stress.
And what did God show me. All those years of supposed wasted time did eventually pay off. And when a full-time teaching position does become open (which according to the chair will happen in the next couple of years), my salary will go up a bit more again. This also now opens the door for me to apply for technician jobs in industry. Most companies refuse to hire engineers as technicians, because they fear that the engineer will demand too high a salary and eventually try to transfer to an engineering position... but working as a technician works better for me, because it offers me invaluable experience for my dream job of teaching!
So remember, no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, no matter what the situation looks like to you... God uses it all. And if your heart is pure and for God... He does reward us and He does bless us!
"But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever
would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is
the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]."
"Jesus said, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has given up and left house
or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for My sake and
for the Gospel's Who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this
time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life."
Be Blessed!
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