A little over three weeks ago, after almost nine years of praying for God to deliver me from a place that had filled me with nothing but anxiety and dread, He led me to make a life-changing decision. With complete peace, I obeyed Him and stepped out in faith, not knowing if I was about to sink or swim. However, the Lord provided for me in a miraculous way.

This is the story of how I quit my job with no backup plan, and how God showed up when I needed Him most.

Why IT Was Not for Me

While I won’t go into detail about the company I worked for, suffice it to say that around six months after starting my job there, I realized I didn’t like working in IT. For almost nine years, I worked in an IT Support role. Though I’ve always been an anxious person, this role brought my anxiety to new heights, due to the nature of the job. Technology or systems could go down at a moment’s notice and my supervisor and I were responsible for fixing it or facilitating outside help to fix it if the issue went beyond our abilities to solve. If something couldn’t be fixed quickly, it caused the company downtime. This placed a tremendous amount of stress on my shoulders and is one of the main reasons why I prayed so consistently for God to provide me with another source of income so I could resign.

Granted, I could have pursued certifications and sought out senior-level IT roles, but that was of no interest to me. While I did my best to solve most problems, I was not interested in learning more about IT outside of work hours. In fact, the more I’ve worked with technology, the more I’ve craved distance from it.

So why did I choose this career path in the first place? Well, back when I was a senior in high school, we had to list which field of study we wanted to pursue on scholarship applications. Where I live, the main careers for women are in the medical and education fields. I’m squeamish and shy, so both of those were not options I wanted to pursue. But I enjoyed being on my laptop back then (mostly writing and playing The Sims 2) and had excelled in the couple of computer classes I had taken in high school. When I looked up the potential salaries I could make if I pursued IT, that’s what I decided to go with. And that, my friend, is why we should seek the Lord’s approval over potential dollar signs. I wish I had prayed as much back then about choosing a career field as I had begged Him to get me out of the rut I had fallen into!

For almost nine years, I had been looking for different jobs but never felt led to apply to any of them. Because of being burned by pursuing money over God’s guidance when I chose my career path my senior year, I knew I never wanted to make that mistake again.

I Couldn’t Take it Anymore

Fast-forward to three weeks ago. After some recent changes and added stress, I was more miserable than ever. I was barely sleeping. By this point, I felt led to apply to other places and had gone on an interview for a job in a different field, but didn’t know how that would play out. I cried the night of my birthday the weekend before because I didn’t want to go back to work the following week and fretted about having to spend X more years working in IT (side note: why do birthdays emphasize feelings like this? Anyone else struggle with Birthday Blues?). My mental health was in shambles and my discernment was kicking off. I knew God didn’t want me there much longer. I just didn’t know when He’d greenlight my escape.

Without going into detail, something happened the day I came back to work that revealed to me it was time to put in my two weeks’ notice. The thing was, I didn’t have a backup plan. Still, I felt the Lord leading me to resign, so that whole day, I prayed, asking for God to bring to my mind any reason I shouldn’t quit my job. My mind was completely blank each time I prayed, and y’all, my mind is never blank. The sweetest sense of peace encompassed me. My husband had been telling me to quit this job for years because of the way it was affecting me, and after running it by him and telling him about how I felt God leading me, I submitted my two weeks’ notice that afternoon.

Even after turning in my resignation with no backup plan, I still felt at peace. But part of me wondered how long that would last. I mean, I had no other steady source of income and didn’t want to place all our family’s financial needs on my husband.

But God already had that figured out.

The Miracle

Before I proceed, I want to preface this by saying what happened next was only possible through God’s provision. I’m well aware of statistics surrounding job hunting, and I knew it could take months to replace my income.

But our Almighty God isn’t limited by worldly statistics. He can change our lives in the blink of an eye.

My friends, 23 hours after the moment I submitted my two weeks’ notice, God provided me with the job I had interviewed for the week before!

Not only that, but the way God provided the interview was a miracle in and of itself! I happened to have the Friday before off work already, and God allowed me to schedule an interview with the other company then, so I didn’t have to be placed in the awkward position of asking off work to go to an interview. I didn’t want to lie to my former manager and say I was going to a dentist/Dr. appointment and had prayed about that before the interview was scheduled. This assures me that God’s had my new job in mind from the beginning, and that He rewarded my obedience of stepping out in faith the day I resigned.

This experience has been life changing for me. After almost nine years of waiting on God to move in this situation, a few weeks ago, I was wondering if He was hearing my prayers at all. As I said earlier, I was upset the night of my birthday (2 days before I resigned) and expressed doubt that God would ever change my job situation. Still, He was in control, and all He needed from me was to surrender control over the situation to Him and trust that He would work it out in His perfect timing.

So, Trust Him, My Friend

In my 32 years on this earth, I had never taken such a major risk as I did three weeks ago, so please know the decision to walk by faith and put my 2 weeks’ notice in was not easy for me to make. Even though 2 Corinthians 5:7 is my favorite Bible verse, I had never truly lived it out until that moment. Here are the key takeaways I’ve learned from the choice to freefall in God’s arms after walking in obedience to His leading:

Takeaway 1: God Sees the Whole Picture, Which Makes His Timing Perfect

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
-Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV

Over the past several years, I can’t count the number of times I had horrible days at work and begged God for permission to quit. If I had to guess, I could safely estimate it to be in the hundreds. But each of those times, I was convicted that it was not the right time to do so, as I was leaning more on my emotions rather than God’s leading. If I had put in my two weeks’ notice or quit on the spot any earlier, there would have been repercussions for my actions that I would have had to deal with, as it was not led by God. You see, when a decision is God-led, He makes a way for us even when there seems to be no way. Like when Jesus called Peter to walk out to Him on the water, Peter sank when he only focused on the storm and crashing waves around him. That’s the same thing as focusing on our emotions and acting on them rather than keeping our eyes on Jesus. As the account goes, when Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus, he was able to cross the water and meet Him. If we are followers of Jesus, we’re called to do the same. So please, wait for God’s greenlight. He will never lead you wrong.

Takeaway 2: God’s Guidance Comes with Peace, Not Confusion

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:7, ESV

The only reason I submitted my two weeks’ notice on the day I did was because, after praying, I was overcome by the peace of God to make the decision. Those hundreds of times before when the thought had crossed my mind, my mind was in a state of panic. Overwhelm. Anxiety-ridden because, while I knew the job wasn’t good for me, I still worried how the choice would affect both my life and my husband’s. This time, that wasn’t the case. As I mentioned earlier, when I prayed for God to bring something to mind, my mind was blank. Peaceful in a way it rarely is. That’s how I knew He was leading me.

You see, Satan uses confusion to lead us astray and question God’s guidance. While yes, part of me questioned if I had heard God correctly, the more I prayed that day, the more the peaceful I felt with the decision. Going back to all the times before when panic, overwhelm, and anxiety hit me when I thought about resigning, Satan was trying to get me to act on my emotions rather than God’s guidance, which would have led me down a worse path. This is why it’s so important that we seek God’s guidance first and don’t act without His peace that surpasses all understanding. Because then, even when He’s leading us to do something as “crazy” and “irresponsible” as quitting a job with no backup plan, we’ll know that He’s behind that path 100% and that He will carry us through it.

Takeaway 3: God Will Provide in Ways We Can’t for Ourselves

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:19, ESV

Though I had the interview for my new job the Friday before I put in my notice at my old one, there was no guarantee that I would get the new job. What’s more is that the job I had interviewed for was in a field that I had no prior experience in. I was trying to switch careers, and this role seemed like one I could transfer my skills over to. Still, I knew there would be a learning curve. There was also the possibility that someone who had previously worked in that field could have landed the job over me because they were more qualified. There was a strong chance I would have to search for months for another job and financial hardship would come upon my husband and me because of this decision.

But, according to God’s Word, God supplies our every need. He knows what we’ll need and when we’ll need it before we’re even in the situation to need it. And because of that, He will orchestrate miraculous forms of provision such as this to remind us that He’s here and He’s in control of all things.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Has God ever led you to walk out onto the water and do something that the world claims is “risky”? If you walked in obedience to what He was calling you to do, what came of the situation? If you’re comfortable doing so, please share your testimony in the comments!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀