When it is not your time?

Recently I had to talk a friend of mine, she was so much in tears that one can only imagine how bad she must have wanted the position, yes! POSITION. Here’s what happened, there was this advert, a position at her workplace and by all account she was one of the favorites for the position; she has the qualification, the experience and “supposed” backing of some of the top shots in the organisation. So she scaled the test and was called up for the first interview but somehow her name was missing from the follow up interview. She was devastated, lots of questions were unanswered and people asking questions didn’t make it an easy pill for her to swallow.

I felt so much for her but then I have come to understand that when it is not your time, there is hardly more you can do, even though we are compelled to keep knocking till a door opens. I had to share a story with her, which I hope you too can learn from.

Some years back, there were four (4) friends who got appointment into a blue chip company, though the money was not what they all had hoped for, especially with the hype on the company but at least it was a good place to start. Eight (8) months down the line, the friends had grown tired of the job, they wanted something more and it was at this moment that one of them got an offer from a bank and he left, leaving the other three (3) behind.

The three (3) remaining guys did almost everything together, they were practically inseparable but as life would have it two (2) were moved to another department within the same organization. Even though these two (2) were still on the same pay with their third friend, it was a movement of convenience; less work, more prestige and more opportunities. It was like a “dream” move. This almost drove the third guy mad, questions like, “what is happening to me? who have I wronged? has God forgotten me? and so on. He was the best but he wasn’t chosen. He was now alone and feeling of dejection was written all over him. However, somehow he found the strength to keep pressing, than before he became more determined to move forward, applied for jobs as much as he could, studied as much as he could and in all, became more focused than he had ever been. In less than six (6) months, he got a new job with benefits more than what the other three (3) guys were earning put together.

It is not easy to accept situations especially when we know we deserve more than we are getting but when it is not our time there is little we can do but to keep improving on who we are so that when our time comes, we will be fully prepared for the task. Listen! when a door doesn’t open for us it is not because God doesn’t love us, often it is because He loves us so much that He wouldn’t allow us settle for less than we truly deserve. We may think what lies ahead is the best we can get but He can see further and knows there is something even better ahead.

Here is my take, when it is not your time

1. Don’t become hateful or rebellious
2. Don’t lose your faith in God or believe in yourself
3. Don’t give up because a door didn’t open, knock on other doors
4. Don’t stop improving on yourself, you are your own selling point, you have to keep getting more attractive
5. Don’t let what people say change who you are, Just keep faith.

My last words for anyone feeling this hurt right now are, “Don’t let few denials make you think less of yourself. In spite of what people might have said to you, in spite of the rejections you might have received, notwithstanding who it came from, don’t give up on yourself. Keep improving, keep getting better, keep knocking on the doors of opportunities and believe me, very soon a bigger door will open for you that would be beyond your comprehension”.

Cheers