so more than a year ago, i wrote my first newsletter to you guys.
i can still remember how that letter came about. i had a made a big, significant life decision and needed to update everyone. but i wanted to do it all at once, and in a way that let me explain myself entirely. i settled on a mass email, and substack was just a fancier way of doing it.
this post is going to be a little like that one, except it’s also going to have snippets from my journal, and might end up being more of a testimony to God’s love
on pivoting was a post about changing career paths, but i spent most of that year unemployed. reader, it sucked. i’m at my best when i’m overwhelmingly busy, and i still don’t know how i survived more than half of last year without anything structurally productive to do.
at the end of the year i went on a girls’ trip to Goa. it was a wonderful, wonderful time, not least because we got to have our daily prayer times in a different beautiful place each day. it was during one of these prayer times that i lifted up to God my desire to have a job. but my requirements were long and complicated. i needed something that paid well but would also give me time to do college when college began. i also needed something that would be relevant to my interests and help me career-wise. and in terms of wants, i knew i wanted a fun workplace with fun colleagues, or i’d just die of boredom. and i wanted to work, primarily, with people.
i must have prayed for this intention several times by then, but on this day in particular i got the sense that God was making a promise to me. that He would provide me, and that i needn’t worry.
on the first of January this year i got a job as a game master at a board game company. it perfectly fulfilled my many requirements, and the best part is this: that i wasn’t even looking for it. mostly because i’d had no idea where to start. (i had applied to Starbucks in one of my weaker moments, but we don’t speak of that)
i remember when i first started working here, i wasn’t entirely sure what i was doing. my job description was a little vague, and it seemed like we’d be making it up as we went. but if that’s what we did, then we made it up so well. the best part of my job, the absolute best part, that fulfilled even my wildest expectations, is that i got to meet new people on the job. not just did i get to meet them, but i got to spend time with them teaching and playing board games.
i cannot stress enough how life-giving this aspect of my job was. after a year of being shut up inside my house and only occasionally meeting with my small circle of friends, the aspiring socialite in me was finally thriving. i got to spend time with all kinds of people, ranging from folks i knew in school but had lost touch with, to friends from other cities, to absolute strangers that have now become buddies.
i also found out something about myself: that i’m good at teaching. and that was just so affirming.
beyond that, i was also blessed by what a lovely place this was to work at. my colleagues were accommodating, and fun to be around. they acknowledged my good work and appreciated me constantly, something i didn’t experience at my previous workplace. and since it was a small team, i got to do all kinds of jobs, ranging from game mastering to graphic designing, to social media marketing, to handling operations. i even learnt how to make reels!
due to the timing and how perfectly it suited my needs, i was very sure that i got that job not on my own merits but through the grace of God. as you can imagine, i was extremely grateful. in fact, at the start of the year, i told God: if you want me to leave this place, you’re going to have to make it really obvious, or i’m just going to stay here forever.
speaking of prayers, ever since August last year, i have been asking God for something specific. here are some pictures from my prayer journal during that time:
i wrote about this desire multiple times over the course of the past year, and even expressed it to my friends. i wanted to spend more time serving God. i just didn’t know how, and so i had decided to wait and see. everyone i spoke to told me that if it was God’s will that i do something like that, then he’d show me a way.
spoiler alert: he did! a few months ago, a position opened up in my community for a full-time youth worker. i applied before thinking about it, and the job was offered to me. what followed was a time of discernment and prayer. i loved my current job at the board game company, and needed to be absolutely sure that this was the right step before putting in my resignation there.
it was during this time that i remembered what i had asked from God all those months ago: “make it really obvious”. i realised this was his way of making it obvious: by giving me an opportunity to do something i had been longing to do for more than a year.
so i said yes to the job.
there’s so much more to share. like, for example, one of my bigger concerns with spending more time in service was that those opportunities don’t usually pay well (or, sometimes, they don’t pay at all). and even though i don’t really need a lot of money for life, i figured it might be easier to convince my mom that i was doing the right thing if they were paying me well-ish. again, i prayed about it, and eventually decided that i’d take the job no matter the pay. the day after i surrendered that area to God, i heard back: the community was willing to match my current salary!
even as i write this i’m still in awe of his goodness. i think back to the restless months i spent last year, unemployed, feeling useless, wanting to do something but not knowing what. during that time, a wise friend told me to enjoy my time of rest. she said, “God probably wants you to get all the rest you can now, so you can be as busy as he wants you to later.”
it’s been far from an easy year, for so many reasons. i don’t want to write to you pretending like my faith journey has been a walk in the park. there were so many moments of struggle and doubt, where i could not hear His voice, and it felt like i didn’t know which way was up.
but he pulled me out of it, as only God can! i completed my notice period at my lovely job at the board game company last thursday, and spent the past weekend at a retreat in Khandala. and throughout the weekend i heard the Lord speak to me through these words from Psalm 18:
Reaching down from above
he took hold of me,
he drew me out
of the deep waters.He has set me free
in an open place.
How great indeed
is his love for me!
so as we come close to the end of another life-update-newsletter, i want to testify to the love of God that surpasses all understanding. He listened to the desires of my heart and delivered! i start my new job as a community youth worker on the 9th (just saying it out loud makes me a little giddy). i’m using this in-between time to rest and meet friends. so if you’re in pune and want to catch up, let me know?
that’s all for today. thank you for reading, and God bless you!
krys
Thank you for sharing! So excited to see God continue to use you in big and small ways <3
Thank you for sharing! Excited to see God use you in big and small ways! <3