The job that brought me here

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘The job that brought me here, I really, really wanted. The desire for it was disproportionate. I’m from Northern Ireland and had been living in Oxford for two years. The situation there wasn’t particularly great, so at the time, I felt that this was a possible answer to prayer. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted it and I became a bit stressed and wasn’t sure what I was doing.

‘Reading Ephesians 2.1-10 made me feel better. It talks about who we are in Christ. I read it in the coffee shop for half an hour before I went for the interview. The funniest thing was that, in the interview, they asked me about my devotional life and I chatted about Ephesians 2 and talked about what it meant to me, and the minister of the church cried – in a good way!

‘I said that I really, really wanted the job, but the fact is that Ephesians 2 means that “the immeasurable riches of his grace”, which it talks about, are greater than this job. That was very comforting.

‘Ten days later I heard that I’d got the job. During those days, I was reminded of my identity in Christ, not in the job. Even when I got agitated, stressed and frustrated, I knew that the job would not change who I was in Christ. The world tells us that our identity is in our job and our relationship, but we are loved by Christ.

‘When I heard that I’d got the job, it was a mixture of relief and fullness. I knew that it was part of God’s “good works” that Ephesians 2 speaks about, that he had prepared for me beforehand. I love my job. I’ve been in it just over a year now.’

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