God created a job for me

I’ve been saying for a while that I’ve got a testimony brewing. Today, I witnessed once again that God is a faithful, powerful and caring God who is present and near to those who call upon His name. I’m a trainee solicitor at a top City law firm and I’m in the last quarter of my training contract. During the last year and a half I’ve really seen God take me through my career without needing to strive much for what I’ve achieved. Of course, I work hard and I take my responsibilities seriously but of the many things that God has taught me since I’ve started work, it’s that prosperity (and, by this, I mean victory in all areas of your life) comes from resting in submission to His will and instruction.

For those of you unfamiliar with the process, a trainee solicitor will typically do four six-month rotations before qualifying into one of the departments in which he or she sat during the training contract. I sat in two niche departments and a bigger transactional team before going on a client secondment. I really wanted to qualify into the second niche department that I sat in. It aligned with my natural interests, the team was fun and I truly believed that it would set a solid foundation professionally for whatever the next steps were. I seemed to get along well with the team and whilst I was clearly different from them (in terms of my cultural norms), they seemed to want to give me a chance. Little did I know this was the beginning (or, depending on how you look at it, the middle) of God’s work.

Despite the good relationships that I was building up, as it approached time to apply for permanent positions post-qualification, it was becoming clear that the department I wanted to apply to wouldn’t have room for me. That particular department which we shall call Department A was highly sought after and usually offered one job a year (ie one job every two qualification rounds). Just before my qualification round was about to start, one of the qualified lawyers in Department A quit his job meaning and the team was overwhelmed by the workload so they advertised and filled TWO vacancies to applicants in the qualification round ahead of mine. So it was looking like, despite wanting to join this team, there would definitely be no space for me. I mean, they used their annual recruitment allowance twice in one year in the same qualification round so the trend suggests that they definitely wouldn’t be looking for another person anytime soon. Then, about two weeks before vacancies for my qualification round were announced, I found out that one of the candidates who had been offered a job in Department A turned the offer down and took a job elsewhere. FIRST GOD MOMENT THAT I RECOGNISED: God made it so that a job was available for me in the team that I wanted even when all odds were against me.

It’s important that you know that Department A specialises in two types of legal matters (let’s call these LA and LB). During my time in the team, I got to work on both types of legal matters and really enjoyed aspects of each. I’ve also always liked the idea of being a multi-specialist (largely because it makes me sound smarter). I thought it’d be important to mention this to my supervisor at the time. After all, if his team wouldn’t have a job for me, maybe they would be able to suggest other firms or departments that I could work which offered similar type of work. Our conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Hey Craig, have you got a minute? I’d really love the opportunity to qualify into this group and even more than that, I’d love to continue to work on both LA and LB.

Craig: You know the chances of qualification are always slim in this group. Even if you were to qualify, "there is not a hope in hell" that you could work on both LA and LB. It would only be LA. That’s what happens generally in this group on qualification. You specialise in one area. The LB team is struggling to keep the people that are there at the moment busy. There’s no business case for hiring another lawyer to do more of their non-existent work.

Me: *nervous laughter* Thanks for being transparent about it. 

Despite this, one of the partners in LB approached me after leaving the group and gave me the opportunity to continue to work on LB matters to build my knowledge, my network and hopefully to give me some credentials if I needed to go and make a business case for myself. Unfortunately, this partner then left unexpectedly (without giving me an appraisal or leaving a written record of the work I had done) so I felt as though all the work that I had done post leaving Department A went unnoticed because he would not be there to vouch for me. In all honesty, I was confused. It felt like God had given me a unique opportunity to showcase my ability and then all of a sudden, it was taken from me. Truly, I was too slow to connect the dots. The partner leaving coincided with an influx of work for the team. In other words, the team had more work and less people to do it. GOD MOMENT NUMBER 2: God creating a need for another lawyer to do LB matters when previously man could not see any justification for one.

Following this, I went to go and speak to Craig again to discuss whether there would be a job vacancy and if so, what the role would entail. Craig confirmed that the team would be hiring and that the role would be for both LA and LB matters. This has never been done before in this team. GOD MOMENT NUMBER 3: God not only crafted the job that I wanted for me but proved that He is not limited by worldly trends.

Now, I was all in my spirit and excited for what was to come. I knew God was up to something at this point. All I had to do was show up to my interview and believe. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done for me at the time. I allowed myself to get stressed and to focus on what people around me were saying about how hard the interview would be and how much they would grill me rather than focussing on the fact that the battle has already been won (Ex 14:14). Needless to say, because I lost my focus, my interview wasn’t as good as it should have been. I walked out feeling discouraged, frustrated and (in all honesty) upset with God and myself. God is good though because even in times of little faith, He’s merciful enough to establish His plan. A week later, I got the “call” to say that I had got the job and received my contract stating my offer.  I wasn’t surprised but I was in awe of God. I was thankful, I was tearful and I couldn’t claim any of the glory. I knew what I was up against (2 other very good candidates went for the job) and I knew how I performed in my interview and yet God forced those with the influence to hold the door open. In fact, I sent an email to one of the partners thanking him after getting the news and this is a direct quote from his response (he was also the toughest interviewer of the 5 partners who interviewed me): “I thought you did very well in the interview. It is never easy but you clearly demonstrated how much you have learnt and matured over your training contract. We are very pleased you can join our group and I very much look forward to you becoming part of the team.”

So what was the point in this post? Simply to encourage you that God cares. It’s been hard to articulate all of my feelings over the past few weeks in which this all took place but if I can leave you with anything, it would be these 5 thoughts.

1. God has a plan for your life and it is for your good – Jeremiah 29:11

God knows where He wants to take you. Let Him lead you. The most prosperous place for your life will always be His will.

2. Expect God to make your way plain – Isaiah 26:7.

Likewise, the easiest place to get to will be where He is leading because there will be no struggle for it. If it’s intended for you, you won’t have to strive. He will make the way plain.

3. God is not bound by trends – Genesis 1:3

Forget what your circumstances look like. He can transform them if He wants/needs to. He’s Almighty.

4. Hold onto your promise (and recognise your promise) – Habakkuk 2:3

Early in my rotation in Department A, I had a dream that I would join the group. I forgot about this until very recently when reviewing some notes I had made a while ago. All promises of God must come to pass. I should have started to recognise my promise at God moment number one. I especially love 1 Cor 10:29-30 in the Message version which says “ I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said.”

5. Be willing to submit – Job 22:21

I prayed a lot in this season and not just because I wanted a job but because I recognise that ultimately, it’s important to spend time with God. Those who spoke to me a lot during this season know that my prayer was simply for God to continue to order my steps and not necessarily to give me this job. I was (and still am) willing to submit to God’s will. I truly believe that an obedient heart is rewarded (Psalms 1:1-3).

I really hope you’re encouraged by this. This is not an unusual testimony. This is a promise of God coming to pass. What He’s done for me, He will do for you. I pray you walk the rest of your life in knowledge and confidence of just how big our God is.