Here is the story: Back at the end of May Chaz interviewed for two jobs; one was a promotion at his current job, and the other was for a health coach in Salt Lake City. He was offered the promotion from his current job as "Assistant Branch Manager" with a substantial pay raise but the health coach job is more of the type of work he has wanted to do. He felt like he would enjoy the type of work there more than what he is currently doing.
So, he emailed the company in Salt Lake and asked where he stood because he had been offered a promotion (he didn't want to accept the promotion and then leave a few weeks later.) The lady he interviewed with at this company called him and told him they had a spot for him, and that he was one of their top choices. She said they could not "officially" offer him a position until the lease on the building that they were moving into had been signed but that the start date would probably be in 2 and 1/2 weeks. She said she would be in touch and let him know as soon as she could make an offer.
Chaz called me and told me this. We fasted and prayed and thought it out. We felt peace about accepting the job in Salt Lake even though there were so many unknowns and it was totally out of our comfort zone to move.
So Chaz declined the promotion and gave his two weeks.
We were so excited. We splurged and went out to eat; we told all our families; we started making plans and looking online for a place to live. We called our landlord and told them we would be moving in 2 weeks; we told the primary president in our ward that we were leaving and they would have to find some new teachers for our class. Two weeks isn't a lot of notice to move so we were trying to get everything in order. This was the first job/adventure out of college!
A week went by, and still no word from the lady. Chaz called multiple times and there was no answer or returned call. He emailed and got a short "the lease hasn't been signed so no news yet" answer. We tried to be patient but both of us were so on edge and anxious about it.
Midweek before the Monday she had told him he would probably start he called and emailed again and this time he got a very cold and annoyed email back that she was very busy and had not given him any concrete offer or start date and that she still didn't have an update for him. She told him she would let him know when she had an update. That was a week and a half ago and we still haven't heard a thing. How could she tell him that and then not say another word to him? Doesn't she realize he has a family- a wife and a little boy? Couldn't she even send him a quick email and let him know things aren't working out?
It seems that this job is not the right road for us.
In the midst of this whole situation, one day thinking and remembered a line from a Mormon Message that goes: "There are times when the only way to get from A to C, is by way of B." It is entitled "Wrong Roads" and I looked it up and watched it:
It is amazing how perfectly it applies to what we are going through. This was an answer to my prayers and I felt that God was telling me he loved me and that everything is going to be okay.
Maybe in order to get from point A (Chaz's current job) to point C (wherever we are suppose to be), we needed to go through point B (accepting this job and not having it work out).
Sometimes when we come to a fork in the road, Heavenly Father lets us go down a wrong road just long enough to realize that it is not right. And maybe the other road in the fork is right or maybe he has a completely different road in mind for us that we don't even realize is there.
I've heard church leaders say that if we are trying to be a good person and trying to live right and love God and are praying to get an answer or praying for guidance, God will always warn us before letting us make a wrong choice. I believe that.
Like Nephi, when he went to get the brass plates from Laban, we sometimes have to take a step into the dark, not knowing beforehand the thing that we should do. Faith is a principle of action and power. We must first act before God gives us His power. What can God do in our lives if we are too frozen with fear to take action?
I guess what I am getting at is that I know that Heavenly Father was guiding us right and that He did answer our prayers even if it seems, for a moment, that He had abandoned us.
Since this time, Chaz has asked his work if he can stay a little longer, until he finds a different job. They said yes but didn't re-offer the promotion. He has been applying for jobs and has had interviews, but no offers yet.
Sometimes I have moments of doubt and get so angry at that this has happened to us. But as I try to overcome those doubts, I think Elder Hollands' words are perfect to remember:
