Speaking Too Soon...

Have you ever felt like you've spoken too soon? Perhaps you waited and waited for the right moment, but as soon as the words left your mouth, something happened that made them completely irrelevant?

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. Two nights ago, I blogged about not knowing my next steps. My contract assignment was coming to a close at the end of the week—of which I was actually grateful for multiple reasons—but I didn't know where the next check was coming from to move forward and I was slightly apprehensive. I know my destination, but I've been taken on a side path and didn't know whether it was time to get back on the main road or not.

Less than twelve hours later, the next morning, I was pulled into a side office to talk. Last time this happened, it was because I was making phone calls regarding a short film I was producing while sitting at my desk and multi-tasking. This time, it turns out that the person I was filling in for would not be returning from maternity leave. Since we both know that I'm not the right person for the job permanently, they wanted me to stay on board until they can hire someone. This could be an indeterminite two to four weeks of extra work.

Why was I not excited, you ask? Mostly because I had already prepared myself mentally for the job to end and for me to move on. I was ready to be back to work in my own office and to find a way to sit and write. This threw a major monkey wrench into my plans and I had to readjust.

My first response was to pray. There are some small rooms set aside for private phone calls (the poor acoustics make them unusable, but that is another story), so I went inside and closed the door for some private quiet time with my creator. It was a request for wisdom and guidance. Was this Him opening the door, or did he have something bigger for me? Perhaps the advice I got from one of my pastors is correct: "I think that the answer of what to do next is whatever He puts in front of you."

Second, I made a pro/con list. The cons far outweighed the pros (of which there was one: money), but that was a big enough positive that I couldn't just bypass the opportunity. The subsets of that included paying bills and maybe even getting an apartment and changing my living situation, which is currently my major prayer request.

The final thing I did was to not respond immediately. I had until this morning to let them know how long I could extend my contract. In the end, I told them that I would stay the full length until they found someone (hopefully not to last longer than four weeks). Trying to convince them to give me a small bump in pay for these final weeks, but we shall see how that plays out.

So, my plans changed almost as soon as I wrote about them. Maybe if I blogged more frequently, I could speak too soon more often. You know, I'm never going to get that TV show picked up... ;-)