Hello family,
I wanted to share with you a great experience I had this last week in regards to my work/our move situation. As most, if not all of you know, my position at Suddenlink Communications was eliminated (along with many others) on April 1st. As you can imagine this has resulted in a myriad of emotions and many conversations about what we should do. Greenville is quite a small area and does not offer many job opportunities at my level. We love the town here, our house, living across the street from the church, our ward family, and were also concerned about moving Ryan before his Senior year of high school. Originally we were thinking of trying to stay until he was done, but Ryan has told us he was open to moving and it would be fine, since I needed to get a job. Since then I have applied at dozens of places all across the US (from Oregon to Nashville to Dallas to Raleigh and more). I have had some interviews but wasn't moving along to the final interview at any of them.
During this time we have continued to pray for peace and direction. We know, based on past experiences and through our faith in God that we would be OK whatever happened. We prayed that we would be led to where Heavenly Father wanted us to be (for whatever reason that was). Sunday morning I had an especially long and heartfelt prayer before church about what direction we should take and asking for promptings and inspiration of where to look for a job. That day I attended my home ward with Melissa and Ryan. This is somewhat unusual as I am usually at our young Single Adult Branch where i have High Council responsibilities.
The meeting started off as usual and there were announcements and we sang the opening song. Then a brother from the ward stood up to pray. I cannot even remember what he was praying about, but in the middle of the prayer I received a very strong impression that said "You need to stay in Greenville." It was so strong and so clear that I immediately began crying and couldn't really control the strong feelings I was having. After the prayer ended I leaned over to Melissa, hardly able to even whisper and told her that i had just received the prompting for us to stay here and not move. For the next few minutes and even throughout the meeting I struggled to control my emotions. Later as I sat in the young Single Adult sacrament meeting and was thinking about my earlier experience i got an overwhelming feeling of peace. I felt a burden lifted and felt lighter.
Over the last few days we have thanked our Father in Heaven for his direction and prayed for confirmation of this decision. Each time we have felt at peace with staying here. We do not know for sure what that means. We have been given direction on this, but now need to have faith that further direction or circumstances will make it clear to us what we should do. Is a job going to come open here in 3 months? 6 months 9 months? do we need to be here to help someone else? Will we stay only until Ryan graduates or longer? These are questions that at this point are not given to us and we must approach in faith relying upon our Heavenly Father's will for us. It is like stepping into the fog with some direction, but not being able to see all the way.
I do continued getting paid for six months and we can save some money during that time, and we also have money in savings. For now, I will continue to look for permanent work in the area, and also as well look for temporary, part-time, or consulting work that can help us to replenish what we may need to spend in order to stay here.
There are a few videos that have been comforting to me and may help some of you who could be struggling for answers to prayers or to discerning spiritual promptings. You can look them up on youtube. One is Elder Bednar (3 parts) on Patterns of Light. One is Elder Christopherson (3 parts) the Bread of Life. Each video segment is only 2-3 minutes long.
I have been blessed with such a wonderful family and extended family. i want all of you to know that god does guide our lives and we all have a plan to fulfill. We all have our own individual needs, wants, and direction and if we turn to our Father in prayer and rely on the comfort, blessings and teachings of the atonement of Jesus Christ i know that each of us can be led to circumstances in which god wants us to be. I challenge all of us to live such that we can know of His will for us. I heard a quote once that said something like, "If you wonder whether your purpose in life is complete yet. If you are alive, it isn't."
I love you all and prayer for blessings and direction in each of your lives.
Love,
Mike
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