Find a Job You Love, and You'll Never Have To Work a Day in Your Life

God, I love my job!

Truly -- I can't get enough of it! It engages me -- heart, mind, soul and spirit...

Wish I'd found it three and a half years ago when I returned from Hollywood to the Pacific Northwest... but then I would never have worked with the amazing and truly Christ-like Pastor Ken Ecker or any of the other wonderful people at Church For All Nations (www.churchforallnations.org) where I worship, or with Sheila Mischke at Kings Manor (www.kingsmanoralf.com), where I was an Activity Director...

I wasn't ready to work at On-Hold Concepts until it happened, pure and simple. God's timing is perfect, as always.

Without the church and King's Manor experiences, I wouldn't have acquired the knowledge that enables me to write well for clients who come to us from those fields. I find that nearly every job I have held to date (except for corn husker -- don't remind me!) has given me some knowledge or insight that helps me do my job as a copywriter at On-Hold Concepts (www.onholdconcepts.com).

I led with the quote, "Find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."

I don't know who said it, but it's a bald-faced lie in one way. I love what I do, but I work hard, or I probably wouldn't get to keep doing it! (Elementary, my dear Watson.) It just doesn't seem like work (a four letter word) because I love it! Even the inherent stress is eustress, not distress.

S'wonderful! I'm positively giddy most of the day, most days!

Now, don't go gettin' jealous on me. I'm saying this because I know there is a job (a mission, a passion) out there somewhere for everyone who wants or needs to hold down a job. You just have to apply for it (whether you qualify to the letter or not) and let God handle the details!

He'll work it out, if you hand him the reins. I did, and got down to $38 in liquid assets before this job came through for me.

Was I scared? My sisters and other relatives were. I wasn't. I was bathed in that "peace that passes all understanding." I believed that God knew my heart, my situation, my next job, and how to make it happen. I had stood on His promises and on the knowledge of His love for me and said, "I can't do this in my own strength, potential, resume, merit... but to You, nothing is impossible..."

I'm really grateful for my new job for a number of reasons: to the HR lady, Gayle, and to the owners of the business, the Woodstocks, who took a chance on me. They knew I was a freelance writer and that I could string words together -- I proved both, these were never issues -- but they were looking for an "experienced" copywriter. I interpreted the ad to mean a wage-or-salary-earning, down-in-the-trenches, deadline-driven, warp speed producer with hide of rhinoceros and heart of gold... but I applied anyway, even though I had never worked in a copywriter's trench -- and I told them so in the cover letter, straight up.

I was not tried, tested or proven in this specific "copywriter" niche... but they gave me a shot at it, telling me it would take a minimum of two months for me to really catch on and start to be a co-equal contributor, but not to worry about it too much, because they expected it to take that long...

I went home that night and prayed to God, "Make me a sponge. Let everything I am told soak in and stay with me until I truly understand it and can run with it."

Ten days later I was told that, much to everyone's surprise and delight, I was up to speed and they trusted me with their clients! I went home and prayed again: "Thank You!"

Within days of starting the job, it was "mine." It felt intuitive, I understood the database, and the protocol. It was truly, truly a miracle. I have NEVER measured up in any job as quickly as I measured up in this one.

The clients love what I write. When we talk on the phone, it's a love fest. We all seem on the same page. There is no accounting for this other than by divine influence and providence.

I am also grateful to the lady I succeeded, who trained me at warp speed in two and a half days before flying off on a mission trip to Africa. I'm grateful to my two other mentors, Brian and Keith, copywriters #1 and #2, who took the Melanie-trained, information-saturated sponge she handed off to them and refined me as the weeks passed, finessing me into the role that now feels like a part of my DNA...

I'm grateful to my coworkers, who made me feel like an immediate part of a terrific new family, and nursemaided me, with patience and affection, through the boo-boos that did issue from my first primitive forays into the process...

You need to keep looking until you find a job that leaves you feeling a little desolate when you have to leave it on Friday night for two days and take a weekend. That's the job God made for you to have. Go get it. Let me know you're going after it and I will join you in prayer and agree with you that you should have it.

I believe in you and I believe that God believes in you, and with His support, how can you lose?

Go get 'em, tiger!