I believe in the power of prayer. But here’s my dilemma with prayer … when two people are praying about the same thing, is it possible God answers one with a “yes”, and one with a “no”?
Last fall, I inquired about a potential part-time business position that was being created, one that for many reasons was a great fit in my mind. A year earlier when a similar opportunity at the same organization presented itself I just couldn’t commit. But now I was ready. A few insiders encouraged me to reach out and put myself out there. So I did. I crafted an email and sent it off to the hiring leader. And I received a quick and lovely response. Thank you for reaching out … let me pray about it.
Yes! Let’s do it – I’ll pray too! (and I did).
In the end, I never heard back. A few months later the position was filled.
Let me get to the point on this one. This is not the first time this has been said to me. And here’s my experience: when someone says they will “pray about it” in response to a question you ask, the answer is 98% a “no”). It’s best to acknowledge this and move on. Well, that’s not the only point.
The bigger lesson here is when we rush to find our next gig, we overlook the cons. It was a great gig, many aspects matched perfectly to what I was looking for. But you know what? There were a lot of downsides. I just didn’t want to acknowledge them. I started panicking since I was not making much headway in my job search.
And when this happens, we become blind. We lose our rational thinking. We settle. We convince ourselves that we can overcome the minor inconveniences. We will ask for a raise once we are hired and things are going well. And change the hours. And ask to travel less.
This experience has been a huge help in my search. Sure, I get discouraged about the lack of response and ghosting. But I vet opportunities much better.
As for this experience, all I can say about this is thank God someone listened to God.