Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Today, the death knell tolled. The office was like a funeral parlour with of red rimmed eyes and screwed up tissues, but no one had died. No one was even ill. I and three other members of staff were told we were being made redundant. The future now looks bleak for the others, but to me a bright, new prospect is on the horizon. Don’t get me wrong, I do sympathize with my colleagues and I will miss the regular income. The difference is that I know I am in the Lord’s hands and “my God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory” and “I’ll not want” (psalm 23:1). After all, He got me the job in the first place.

Three years ago this month I was sitting watching a recording of Joyce Meyer’s “Enjoying Everyday Life” when an advert came up for TV4LIFE subscriptions. There’s nothing usual in that, you may be thinking. You may even have seen the advert yourself and subscribed. The difference is, on that destiny-filled day, I noticed for the first time that TV4LIFE’s offices are in Colchester, three miles from where I live.

Ever since my youngest was born my husband had said, “When he starts school you will have to get a job.” In fact, I had already applied for one job as a part-time PR at Essex University but had been unsuccessful after putting myself through the wringer trying to get it. After all the tension and stress had subsided, I surrendered my future to Jesus and asked Him to find the job he wanted me to have. I asked him if he would get me a job without me getting myself all worked up and that it would happen in his timing. So you see, when I saw that advert appear with a Colchester address I felt God sitting next to me, nudging me with his elbow, saying “Go on then. Rewind it and take down the telephone number and ring up.” So I did, only to be told that there were no jobs going but if I wanted to email them my CV, they would consider it if a job came up.

A few days later, our car jolted and quivered to a final stop on our way up to Aldeburgh for a fish and chips luncheon on the spit. It was the last I thought of jobs for a while, after all, I had my husband’s 40^th birthday rendezvous in Brittany with his former college pals to think about. The Euro Tunnel was booked so we had to find a vehicle to transport us there. I pinned the crumpled note with the email address for the TV4LIFE offices to a bathroom cabinet with a fridge magnet. About a month later and six thousand pounds lighter, after buying a Kia and enjoying a fancy dress 40^th birthday party for the gang, I was cleaning my teeth and spotted the note. Again, it was as though God was standing next to me nudging me, saying, “If you don’t apply for that job, someone else will get it.”

I didn’t want that to happen, so I was obedient and sent off my CV the very next day. I got an email back straight away from my future boss, who said she had been impressed with my CV and did I want to go in for “a chat”.

 I hadn’t realized the “chat” was actually an interview so I hadn’t got all worked up like the last interview. Ten minutes into the “chat”, my boss said: “What are your salary expectations?”

“Can you tell me what the job is first,” I bleated.

“We’re looking for a new Editor,” she said. I don’t know if she noticed my jaw drop to the floor. You see, I would never have applied for an editor’s job. Yes, I am a trained journalist and had worked my way up through the male-dominated ranks of various regional newspapers and had even freelanced among the Oxbridge graduates at the BBC, but I never considered myself editor material. I didn’t, but thankfully, God did. After another interview and writing exercise, I was offered the job. It was meant to be a full-time job, but I prayed about it and my boss offered me the job part-time. Isn’t God good?

It was a bit nerve wracking at first, but once I was trained and got into the swing of it, it was a job meant for me. It feels like all of my skills and previous experience have been channelled for this job. As a teenager, I had first dreamed of working for a magazine and had won the star-letter prize in Jackie magazine. Little had I realised I would one day be working for the first international Christian TV listings magazine as the Editor!

When we celebrated the magazine’s 10^th anniversary a few months ago, I realized that God had started the plans for this magazine around about the time I had rededicated my heart to Him. Even then, he was thinking about my future. So as I view the exit door of redundancy, I see it as another door opening, not closing, because as one of my favourite Bible verses says: “I know the thoughts that I have toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

If being in His perfect will in this job is anything to go by, I can’t wait to see what He has planned for my next one!