Article September 4, 2000 Issue

On the edge of a cliff? Or at the top of a mountain?

By Virginia Diane Mobley

"It feels as if I'm standing on the edge of a cliff," I said to my best friend and employer. After a year of working as a sales agent in her real estate office, I had decided to take some time off to consider whether this was the career I wanted to pursue. I felt I needed a new direction, which I believed would come only from listening to God.

For the past year, I had been trying to convince myself that I belonged in real estate. This friend, a broker who was starting a new office, had been eager for me to join her. We enjoyed spending time together, and working with her had seemed like a logical move. In spite of serious doubts about my inclination toward the real estate business, I had rationalized the good timing of this opportunity and prayed that God would show me what I needed to know so that I could succeed. But the job never truly fit me.

After telling my friend about my decision, I struggled with self-condemnation and guilt. But daily prayer and systematic spiritual study helped me stay true to what I knew about God and my relation to my Father-Mother—that God created me in His/Her likeness, and knows me as perfect in every way. God constantly upholds my perfection, showing it to me in thoughts of peace and joy, in answered prayer. The negative thoughts were not from God, and therefore they could have no real power over me.

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