4 Unexpected Blessings of Unemployment

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Image via LDS Living.

This article was originally published in LDS Living by Tracie Snowder. Below is an excerpt.

I grew up with a father who worked in the fickle world of pharmaceutical sales. We went through several periods where my father didn’t have a job, and those moments of anxiety and uncertainty were the most devastating times for me. I vowed I would never be in the same position when I had kids.

Fast forward many years. My husband graduated with a master’s in business administration from a top MBA program in December of 2014. We weren’t too worried when he didn’t have a job upon graduation. Over the last three years, roughly 95 percent of the MBA candidates from his school have a job within 90 days of graduating.

That day came and went at the end of March.

And while my husband has had many job interviews and prospects, we are still waiting for an official offer.

So here we are, over four months past graduation, and my smart and talented husband doesn’t have a job yet. While this is definitely a trial of faith, here are some unexpected blessings we’ve discovered while on the hunt for a job.

Enthusiasm for Temple Work

With two little girls and a job working from home, my family barely made it to the temple once a month while my husband was in school. But now that our days are less hectic, we make the 90-minute trek to the Houston Texas Temple almost every week. We have both, for the first time ever, finally figured out how to navigate FamilySearch.org and found ancestors that needed their temple work done. We are teaching our children that we love the temple, and they are excited to go. Our love for the temple, family history work, and especially our Savior Jesus Christ has greatly increased because of the time we’ve spent serving in the temple.

To read the rest of the article, go to LDS Living.

Bridget is a newsroom writer at LDS.net. She graduated in April 2015 from Brigham Young University in communications with an emphasis of public relations. She served a Spanish speaking LDS mission in McAllen, Texas. She is a skilled pianist and an expert baker of chocolate chip cookies.