At the age of twenty-two, I was fresh out of college with a business degree. And like most recent college graduates, I needed a job. 

I thought about my close college friends who had pursued several internships, worked as assistants to get their foot in the door of certain businesses, or attended networking events to meet potential employers.

My résumé, however, included none of these things. Instead, my interview went something like this:

Interviewer: Tell us, how do you plan on managing our plant employees?

Me: Well, I haven’t quite managed too many adults, but I have assisted a few times on an Indian reservation for a weeklong Vacation Bible School in the summer with over a hundred children. Transferring them from class to class, leading Bible story time, snacks, and arts and crafts. It would get quite hectic, but we managed.

Interviewer: It says here you are detail-oriented, tell us more about that?

Me: I have served as secretary of the Ladies Circle for my local church and the region of my church for a number of years now. I was in charge of keeping detailed minutes at every meeting, creating the agendas ahead of time, and working with the president to ensure that all the items we discussed were followed up on all the way to completion.

Interviewer: Have you ever led meetings or coordinated projects?

Me: I would coordinate monthly calls for our Student Support Program (another auxiliary of my church) to keep young people in  college involved and engaged. I also tracked our monthly articles from assignment to publication.

Interviewer: Our employees come from pretty diverse backgrounds—some speak Spanish only. How will you communicate important information to them?

Me: I am bilingual and have had the opportunity to assist the Education Committee at my church by translating long manuscripts and lessons for our teachers, which has helped me strengthen that skill.

Every item on my résumé was church-related because that is what I decided to spend my time on during college. 

What I thought were just fun summers with my friends at VBS and YIA were surprisingly places to hone professional skills. 

I never realized that one day the Lord would use these activities to bless me with my first real adult job. 

That job helped launch my career, and the Lord has blessed me through it all. 

Young people, instead of worrying about what you need to do to land that dream job, work for the Lord and He will bless you beyond anything you could ever imagine. 

God’s Work vs. (just) Work

It’s your turn. Share with us a time when you prioritized working for God over working your career? Both types of work are good and right. It’s the intersection of the two where things get, shall we say, interesting. We’d love to hear what you have to say. Comment below, or send us the full story.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.