When my third job in three years ended unexpectedly, my hopes for a stable and satisfying career quickly began to sink. I was exasperated as to what to do next. The skills I'd gained so far seemed either too general, too job-specific, or too undeveloped to pursue what I wanted.

The reasons why I wasn't getting where I thought I should be on my career path seemed endless: constant changes in the market economy; businesses sold, merged, or unviable; policy changes; or, the simple feeling that society does not value and support individual merit enough.

I realised that if I accepted that outlook, I might just keep going from job to job, waiting for a favourable change. So I prayed to understand, and accept, that God's care and guidance are ever available. That He alone is All-powerful and merciful, and therefore that His goodness was in charge of my work placement.

As I prayed, I saw I'd been taking too many steps at once in trying to secure a meaningful work niche. I'd long been second-guessing what God might want me to do, rather than actually asking Him to show me. And I realised I needed to trust that there was a God-inspired solution and let go of what I thought I should be doing. I saw I needed to have the humility to accept whatever God wanted me to do.

Through my prayer, I began to realise that I didn't have to rely on my own judgment by making plans and outlining what the results should be. I saw, too, that admitting to myself that God was able to help was the only attitude that would bring about a mutual blessing for me and any employer.

The following psalm reassured me that God had a loving and wise plan not only for me but for everyone, and that in fact He was already governing my employment and career: "Not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up; but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another" (75:6, 7, Revised Standard Version).

Finally I was ready to trust God, be grateful for what I could do, be faithful to it, and enjoy it. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 254). This said to me that we each have a unique relationship with God—that He is the true Employer. Also that the supply already exists in God to meet any demand, since He is the source of all. According to Genesis, I expressed God as His image (see 1:27). God alone was providing all I had to give, and my only requirement was to see that fact. Acknowledging our special relationship with God does not have the effect of making us feel self-important or proud. Rather, it reveals that we're all included in God's plan, and therefore not in competition.

While praying in this way, I began to look again at operating a business I had been engaged with once before. It was a modest but realistic step. For several weeks I prayed, "Thy will be done."

Then the day before I was ready to register the business, the phone rang. The timing was uncanny. It was an employment agent asking if I was interested in a job in my neighbourhood, a short walk from my home at the time. (When I later asked the agent how she'd gotten my number and details, she said she'd found my resume amongst some old files a colleague had brought her from another agency. The resume was several years old.)

Continuing to listen to God and let Him guide me, I agreed to an interview and subsequently received a job offer. It involved the very work I had been preparing for in my business. There was excellent mentoring—and had I not taken this job, I would not have known how much I needed it! The work hours and demands provided just the right balance that suited me. There were so many other unique matches that I still marvel at it.

I still feel the blessing of learning that lesson to listen to God, rather than judge what I thought was important. Prayer in Christian Science has shown me that I can go to God and expect just the right results.

DARREN G. MACKAY
MOUNT WAVERLEY, VICTORIA AUSTRALIA