God Is Pretty Good at Second ChancesSample

Day 3: Paycheck or Purpose:

Are you pursuing a paycheck or your purpose?

For me, personally, all I knew was that I loved to help people.

A career? What is that? My only work experience was working at Burger King and housekeeping at a hotel. I had no idea what I wanted as a career; I just knew I didn’t want to flip burgers and be on fries or make beds and clean toilets.

Although I was in school earning an associate’s degree, I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. The degree was in information processing. It was a combination of administration, technology, and accounting. At twenty-one years old, I landed a part-time job in a major corporation. I was a department secretary in a training department, and I worked this job for six months until I graduated with my associate’s degree.

The part-time job was the beginning of an amazing corporate career; however, during that time, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing or where I was headed in terms of a career. So, after I graduated, the company offered me a full-time job as a department secretary. The paycheck got bigger, and I was offered great benefits. There I was at twenty-two years old and working for one of the top corporations in Milwaukee. That was a big deal.

I worked as a department secretary for three years. Within those three years, I moved from the training department to human resources. It was in human resources that I began to understand my yearning to help people. My responsibilities called for people to reach out to me, and I had to research their questions to find the answers. I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of my job, so when the opportunity was presented to work in our company’s customer service department, I jumped at the chance. As a customer service rep, the need to help others was satisfied, and the paycheck got even bigger.

Although the job was feeding my satisfaction, customer service is not for the weak. You gotta have tough skin because people can be cruel. And you must be a bit touched to want to do this job day in and day out. Consider me touched because I loved it, and I was finding my place in the corporate world. Helping people solve their problems was my niche, and I enjoyed every bit of it. After working in this role for a year, I knew it was time for me to move on to something greater. The problem was that I didn’t know what greater looked like. I just knew I felt a shift.

At this time, I was twenty-five years old. Although I believed in God and had accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I didn’t really have a relationship with Him. I mean, I prayed and went to church occasionally, but I didn’t know how God’s hand was really on me. I didn’t know how He was working on my behalf and setting things in motion for me. I had boldness and courage, but I didn’t know how that developed in me or where it came from, nor did I know I was operating in crazy faith.

So, after a year of working in the customer service department, the crazy faith kicked into motion. I began to search for other opportunities within the company. Again, I didn’t know where I was headed; I just knew it was time to do something different. A job opportunity titled “help desk analyst” was posted. I remember reading the job description and thinking, “I have no idea about working on computers, but I can learn if they give me a chance.” Helping people solve problems appealed to me, so I applied for the position.

Remember, I had been a department secretary and a customer service rep. I had no business applying for a help desk analyst position where I would be troubleshooting and answering hardware and software questions . . . helping people with their computer problems. I was determined, and I waited and waited for a response. Finally, I got the call from human resources. The hiring manager wanted to talk to me.

The only thing I remember is telling the hiring manager that I believed I would be good for the job because I liked to help people. I didn’t know anything about hardware or software. I didn’t know anything about troubleshooting server or network problems. All I knew was that I was good at talking to people, and I wanted to be in a position where I could help. I even remember saying how I was nice and always stayed calm even when customers yelled at me. LOL! “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7, NIV). Well, the door opened, and I walked into the technology world carrying only the enjoyment of helping people. And guess what! The paycheck got even bigger. But something else was stirring up in me at the same time, and I could not put my finger on it.

I did not choose the technology field. The technology field chose me. I didn’t go to school for computer science because I simply didn’t know my career path. I didn’t have a mentor to help me figure that out. I just knew I wanted greater. And in that wanting greater, unbeknownst to me, my purpose began to take shape. I had to go through years of wandering before it all made sense. In those wandering years, my paychecks got bigger, and the revelation of purpose became more evident.

I cannot explain how the door opened in my career other than it was all God’s doing. After working as a help desk analyst for five years, my career in the computer support environment took off. In 1999, I moved to Atlanta, GA, on a job transfer to help start up the help desk, and I found myself in a leadership role. Why? All because I love to help people, and for the next twenty-four years, I functioned as a technical support leader. The paychecks kept getting bigger, and my purpose continued to elevate.

I’m almost positive that had I developed a relationship with God years ago, my eyes would have been opened to my purpose.

As a technical support leader, I have worked in the HVAC space, local government space, healthcare technology space, and cyber security space. I have a vast skillset that I am grateful for; however, you don’t hear me talking about my career or skillsets because my fulfillment rests in the people I have served . . . the people I have led and the customers I have helped. I thoroughly enjoy the increase of coins in my bank account. But what has given me the most satisfaction are the seeds I have planted along the way.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” If you keep reading, you’ll see in verse 13 where the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Although this was all in a letter written by Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, we can take this same letter and apply it to our lives. God is so gracious and patient. And He gave me yet another chance.

Define what a meaningful and purposeful career looks like for you personally. Reflect on whether your current role aligns with your values and provides a sense of fulfillment. Assess whether a career change might better fulfill your sense of purpose. The balance between purpose and a paycheck is subjective and can evolve over time. Reflecting on these questions can help you clarify your priorities and guide you toward decisions that align with your values and goals.