Our Unemployment Story: God's Good Gifts

                   
If you follow my posts, you might have realized our family has been in the trial of unemployment.  My husband worked for a national fast food company as a director of finance.  After 12 years with the company, he was told he was being let go last May and his last day of work was the Friday before Labor Day.  The company did bless us with severance, which we know was a gift from God.

So, we have been looking for a job for 7 months, since the May announcement, but jobs were very slow in even appearing on the job lists.  He had many interviews, but the processes were extremely slow and nothing seemed to be fruitful.  Companies would decide not to hire anyone due to the economy, they would change the title and pay to where it was not feasible for Ryan, or they would want some crazy skill that Ryan didn't have--international experience/banking experience/healthcare experience/techonology experience.

We knew that God had a plan.  He had allowed many different "random" circumstances lead to Ryan's unemployment, so we knew he would do the same to provide employment for our family.  It was hard not knowing if God wanted us to move to a smaller home, to look into a different type of career, to have me work part time, or to look at jobs in places that would require us to relocate, but we prayed we would be able to do whatever He willed with joy and contentment.  God slowly peeled away layers of entitlement and anxiety to refine us and grow us in our spiritual maturity.

We had hoped and prayed that Ryan would have a job by the time we got to November.  We were told by several people that job availabilities and interviews came to a standstill over the holidays.  November 1st came and went, and we hunkered down for a frugal Christmas season, with our eyes hopeful on January and early spring.

God picked the most unlikely circumstances and timing to bring us a job.  November 17th, two days before Ryan's birthday, Ryan got an e-mail from an old co-worker who had been talking to executives over at El Pollo Loco (a grilled chicken fast food restaurant in western states), and they were looking for a new finance director to work in their marketing department.  This co-worker told them he knew the man for the job, and he forwarded Ryan's resume from his LinkedIn page.  All of this happened without Ryan knowing!  Ryan got a call at the end of the same workday asking him to be at El Pollo Loco at 8:45 the next morning to interview with two executives. 

In past job interviews, Ryan had been given about 2 week time intervals between contact and interview dates, and, after that, many layers of interviews that went on for months.  This contact to interview was all within 24 hours!

Ryan's interview lasted 4 hours, and he ended up meeting not only the 2 executives, but the whole executive team and the president.  He was asked to return on Monday to go to a training for a new technology they were using and to interview with HR.  He had a job offer on Wednesday afternoon, and we spent Thanksgiving day truly feeling the provision of God with keen awareness!  He signed the paperwork the day after Thanksgiving and started his job today!

We smile at how God broke all the rules in order to prove to us that this job was from Him and nothing of our own doing.  Ryan didn't apply for the job, but it came to him without his knowledge.  He got the job in a traditionally slow hiring season.  He was able to move from hearing about the job to getting a job offer in less than a week--much different than ANY job interview process he had faced before. 

We are praising God for His goodness to us and for providing us with a job.  We are thankful that He grew us in this trial, and we have another example of God's faithfulness to strengthen our faith.  We are more than excited to share this story with everyone, as we know many people are facing financial struggles and other trials right now.  We pray you are encouraged in your prayers and waiting on Him.  To God be the glory and the honor.  We are thankful for His goodness to us!

James 1:17   Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.