God-sized Dreams

Where Dreams Set Sail

When Your Resume Doesn’t Match Your Dream

By 24 Comments

Call me weird, but I love helping people write their resume. It reminds me of those fun matching worksheets we’d fill out in school. Maybe you remember them too?

One column might list dates. The other would outline events. We would draw a line between those that matched.

Similarly, good resumes tend to align with correlating job descriptions. A posting for an organized and communicative coordinator is best met with a resume that highlights successful experiences organizing and communicating. When applying to work at a college, it’s smart for a resume to mention previous work experiences in an academic setting.

What happens when our resumes don’t match our assignments?

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Motherless career women are thrust into parenthood. Men who have worked for decades managing a technology are forced to find a new job field when new tech takes over. Stay-at-homes moms become single and need employment. Students who worked hard for their degree can’t find a related job. People with worthy, noble, God-sized dreams see no possibilities.

Sometimes, we look at our lives and ourselves and don’t see any matching qualifications for the task at hand.

But we’re not the first folks to have that issue.

Here’s a peek into heavenly HR:

Job Description: Second in Command over a Powerful Nation

Resume:

  • Betrayed by jealous family members
  • Sold into slavery, served as overseer
  • Falsely accused, sent to prison
  • Dream interpreter as prisoner
  • Possesses the Spirit of God

Good fit? A God-fit.

Job Description: Great-Grandmother of Second King to Ever Rule a Nation

Resume:

  • Woman from Moab, where child sacrifice was practiced
  • Widow of a man whose family seemed cursed
  • Professional gleaner of leftovers from fields
  • Remarried to older, apparently undesirable kinsman redeemer
  • Enabled by the Spirit of God

Good fit? A God-fit.

Job Description: Apostle Responsible for Leading Many Gentiles to Salvation

Resume:

  • Jewish zealot educated in the law
  • Persecutor of Christians
  • Accomplice to murder of many Christians
  • Temporarily blinded
  • Filled with the Spirit of God

Good fit? A God-fit.

Few (if any!) Bible heroes’ lives “matched up” with what God called them to do.

It’s easy for us to assume that we are either fit for something, or not. Qualified, or not. We may take steps to position ourselves as more fit or qualified. But we have to watch out:

When dreaming seems slow, we’re often tempted to start scheming.

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God is less about matching and more about making.

  • Joseph’s experiences didn’t clearly align with his future job description, but God used them to prepare Him practically and to make Himself known.
  • Ruth’s life in no way pre-disposed her as a clear fit for her future assignment, but God used her experiences to draw her to Himself and to make Himself known.
  • Paul’s work history would appear a hindrance to his future endeavors, but God used the drastic change to equip Paul for a life of seeing others changed and God used Paul to make Himself known.

We, like these people God so loved and set as examples for us, don’t have to scheme as we dream. We don’t have to create paths to beef up our resumes. We also don’t have to write failure across the tops of our assignments when we can’t see how our qualifications and our dreams match up.

Instead, we’re free to believe that God, who is making us still, will make Himself known through us (messy resumes welcome!)

That’s the dream, and it is this moment coming true.

Shared by: Bethany McIlrath

Comments

  1. I am the owner of one messy and seemingly short-circuited resume, and yet I’m certain that God has led me to this point in my life. I love the way you’ve framed the “career objectives” of these biblical characters, putting on display that the only good fit is a “God fit.”

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  2. Bethany,

    I love this post and it is speaking to me in so many ways. I have a great career but I also have a God-sized dream and don’t see how the two are compatible or that the dream is even possible given my other obligations. I am constantly reminding myself that I don’t need to figure it out because God already has. Thank you for the encouragement!❤️

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    • Julia, I’m so glad to be able to encourage! I also have a dream and a career and I’m not sure how they are compatible or possible- but I know God’s Word on this is true and that He’s certainly brought about what I thought impossible before!! His surprises are the best! So thankful we don’t have to figure it out!

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  4. Well, I had career #1, thought I’d shift to career #2 and things have not materialized the way I thought they would and too much time has pass to go back to career #1. I’m guessing God has me right where he needs me.

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  6. God fit…love it! There are so many things I feel unqualified to do, and yet once I move forward, once step at a time, I find myself doing exactly what I thought I couldn’t! I’m so thankful for the many examples of unqualified’s in the Bible.

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  8. Thanks for this encouragement, Bethany. I need to write TWO resumes next month, and it has me shaking in my boots a bit, so thanks for the encouragement.

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  9. I loved this post “when you’re resume doesnt…..”. Just last week I was telling God I wasn’t qualified to write about Gods word. I said things like I haven’t gone to Bible school. First He asked if I thought Peter was qualified, then reminded me he didn’t go to Bible school. When I thought Peter had an advantage because he was with a Jesus everyday for three years, I mean with a ministry mentor like that…. then He reminded me I was with Him for 53 years, did that count for anything? Let’s just say it was very timely for me to read this right now. Thanks for the encouragement.

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    • Wow, praise the Lord for His timing and conviction! Your thoughts also remind me- what qualified the human writers of Scripture to record God’s infallible Word? The Holy Spirit! He’s living in you too. And the Bible is such that even the young can understand it at the essential level. So you can absolutely write about God’s Word : ) I hope you do!!

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  10. These words were perfect timing! I’ve been wrestling with the idea of my resume having all kinds of different experiences, yet, I remain frustrated at the prospect that’ll I remain stuck in my stressful job position. But, your words remind me that I need focus more on GOD and not on my current situation. God Bless 💕

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  11. I absolutely love this! I love resumes too. I could laugh and cry just because of the timing of this. Just made a new one two weeks ago and by gosh my flesh wants to try and make things happen. But it’s all in God’s hands. It’s hard though I must confess. The breakdown of these profiles is eye opening, though I knew these things — thinking of it in the light of not really being qualified in the world’s eyes. I need to hold onto that thought…

    Reply

    • Thanking the Lord, Meg! His timing is amazing. It’s so hard to WAIT, and especially right now so few employers get back to you either way so it feels like constant suspense. It’s worth not scheming our way to obey His leading instead : ) And I also laughed/teared up realizing the breakdown of these Bible resumes!! Thank the Lord for what He includes in His Word!

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