| 1:51p |
A new job!
Guess what? I got a new job! Yay! I am SO happy! Here's the full story...
Well, over the past few months, I've been feeling really confused and strange. Finishing uni was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've been feeling so lost and directionless. I always thought that I'd be happy to hang around for awhile at Grace Bros/Myer after I finished my degree, but all of a sudden, I felt really inadequate having only a retail job. All of the new people at Beachmission and my new church would ask me, "What do you do?" and I'd feel a little embarrassed, because I didn't want to say that I worked for Grace Bros. And I felt horrible for feeling that way, because I believe that being a kind and compassionate person is more important than having a succcessful career. But it was so strange not drawing pictures. Even now, I only do it for clients, and not for myself. I'm still trying to take a break from it. Even though I don't rely on illustration to make me happy, I still miss it quite a bit. For me, drawing is as intrinsic to who I am as talking and smiling are. I said that I'd start drawing again in February, but I didn't feel ready. Then I said March, but March is also coming up very soon. So maybe I won't start again until April. I just want to wait until I actually WANT to start drawing. I am looking forward to the return of ink and colour and texture and observation and stories to my life, though.
Anyway, so I started looking for a second job apart from my Grace Bros one. The first time I tried to find a new job, I got really confused, because I didn't feel ready to work in the graphic design industry. This one day, I was just about to write up my resume and cover letter to this printing company, all the while praying in my mind that God would give me guidance. Then, I turned on my mobile phone (I was so grumpy that I didn't want anyone to call me), and there was a message on my voicemail from Andy Winters! Andy Winters is a professor at Moore College (where you can study to become a church minister), and I met him one day at a youth ministry conference through a friend. I had given Andy my business card and told him that if his church ever needed any graphic design done, then I'd love to be able to help. Lo and behold, Andy had remembered me, and he told me that he needed some t-shirts designed! I ended up offering to revamp all of the logos for the youth section of their church (which is St Clement's in Mosman, by the way), and it has been a very rewarding job to work on. Andy and his colleague Kirsty are wonderful clients because of their open and friendly nature. And it is just so fantastic to be able to use my gifts for the sake of God's kingdom!
Then I started looking for a job again, only I kept either getting rejected or coming across really weird jobs. The weird jobs included an office position which I discovered was at Sydney Dating, a "casual contact agency", which is SO against everything that I stand for! The rejection from other jobs was pretty harsh, as well, and I was feeling really sad and I had really low self-esteem. The whole time, I was praying really hard that God would give me another job, and other ways of earning money.
AND THEN, Lucia sent me an e-mail, and the Marian Street Theatre wanted me to illustrate for their upcoming production of "Pinocchio"! I was so happy about that! Doing things for kids and the theatre has been part of my dream, so of course I said a big "YES" to Lucia. I still kept praying for another job, though, because Grace Bros was giving me really bad shifts- like, a single three hour shift for a whole week. That would mean that I would earn around $46 for one week.
AND THEN (AND THEN!), yesterday, God finally gave me the job that I had been praying for! I got an e-mail from one of my old lecturers at uni, Darrall Thompson, and he offered me a position as a tutor for two illustration classes! I was so happy! You see, I thought that if I did get a tutoring position at UTS, it would be for the design classes. But the illustration classes are even BETTER- they were my favourite classes! Thanks to something my friend Joyce said, I realised that all of those times I didn't get those other jobs, God was actually protecting me, and keeping me on the path that He wanted, because He had something better in mind. I'm so excited. I didn't realise how much I wanted to go back to uni. It'll be great to be back at uni, only this time, I won't have to do uni work! It'll be so great to see what all the design kids are wearing, and to still be able to see my FEVA buddies and go to Bible study with them. Plus, this year my sister will be at UTS, studying Fashion and Textiles Design! And it will be so wonderful to be able to share my love for illustration with the new students. And I'll get to work with Jennifer Williams, who is a super-nice teacher. When I was leaping around yesterday, my mum said to me, "And you can still be yourself! You can still wear colourful clothes and be silly!" This is such a dream...I am SO happy!
"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."
(Psalm 37:3-4)
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
(Psalm 27:14)
God, as always, is right, and I am so glad. |