In June of 2024, I found myself at a pivotal point of my life that was the result of a difficult, but inevitable decision. After ten years of being a stay at home homeschooling mom, I was now going to have to learn to become a single, working, homeschooling mom. The events from January 2024 till that point unfolded in layers. It all happened so fast and felt like such a whirlwind, but I know that every step I took from that decision on was covered in the grace of God.
I’m a planner by nature, so in order for me to make this transition efficiently, I planned to work from home. It sounded easy enough, and I knew God was with me every step of the way. But living any amount of time at all, will teach us the journey is never as easy as walking from A to B. There are dips, and twists and turns that we don’t account for.
I started applying for work from home (wfh) jobs around February of that year, because when you know, you just know. Besides, heading back into the work force can take time, and I wanted to prepare as best as I could. I did not have a job by June, but I had enough money to pay rent for a year, plus some leftover to survive off of for a while until child support kicked in around September…or so I thought.
Making a way
September came and went and I hadn’t received any child support…at all. Of course, I was still applying for jobs and Door Dashing to make ends meet. I applied at grocery and retail stores while I was all over virtual job sites like indeed, stalking them like white on rice. I was in a Facebook group where they shared links to part time job leads. Part time was important to me starting off because my kids had activities they were apart of during that Fall Semester and I didn’t want everything to be stripped away from them all at once.
During the month of October, I applied to a 1099 company called Omni Interactions. They offer short and long term contracts for wfh jobs. There are no interviews or much experience required, just an assessment and typing test. I had to have my own equipment, which was a headset and a laptop. Thankfully, I already had both. Not long after the onboarding was complete, I signed up for a customer service contract for a coffee company that would start November 1 and last six months. (I don’t drink coffee, but hey…you gotta do what you gotta do!) This gig allowed me to set my own hours, as long as I had twenty per week. The pay was just okay, but it helped meet my needs and it was something. It also added to my experience and created more recent work history. By this time, I also qualified for SNAP benefits that I will forever be grateful for! Not having to worry about food was a blessing, especially since October came and went without any child support.
Being new to the single mom life, the first couple of months of not receiving child support had me distraught. From the beginning, I asking the child support office to get involved. They told me I had to wait till ninety days after finalization before they could enforce payment. After the ninety days, they told me I needed to have a full time job, which I didn’t. Friends were saying child support is a joke and to never depend on it. I felt like a fool for believing someone would just do the right thing. I remember I called a good friend and I was so overwhelmed and feeling so many emotions, that when she answered, I just broke. I mean, I sobbed the type of cry like a freshly spanked child trying to breathe and talk at the same time. It was bad. But I released, caught my breath, and she told me to adjust my crown and reminded me of who I was.
God, My Father
During the month of December, God was especially good to us! There were a few people that knew my situation and some that didn’t, but we were being blessed financially by both! For the first time in my life, I actually felt God as my Father by the way He took care of us! It felt like how an earthly father would take care of his daughter if she was in my situation. It was the first time I can remember ever feeling God so near and so close. He’s always made a way for me, but this was something different. This was more tangible. I wasn’t in control…at all. I couldn’t have earned it, didn’t know to pray for it, and I couldn’t pay it back. It was all God.
Growing Pains
My pay at Omni was metrics based, so it fluctuated according to my hours worked, time spent on calls, etc. and I was experiencing frustrations with the job itself. So I kept applying for jobs and at the beginning of January, I started getting interviews! (Don’t stop applying until you have the job you want and that works for you!) Well, one of those interviews lead to an offer and I accepted! It was full time, Monday through Friday with great hours! The pay was actually better than most non remote jobs (most wfh jobs are), but still on the low side considering the economy. So I ended my contract with Omni earlier than expected, but I still stood in good graces with them.
Training for the new job lasted about nine weeks total. Our hiring class started off with eight weeks of training, and then our line of business changed and we trained an additional week for the new one. Our original line of business was reviewing healthcare plans for members, then we were switched to scheduling rides for patients who had Medicare. Getting paid to train for over two months was actually nice! It was enough of a break to recover from the customer service job at Omni and not be on phones. My hiring class and I also thought it was a nice change to go from needing so much information to just scheduling rides! How hard could it be? Well…I was about to find out.
I knew this job was going to be bad from the first day I took a call once training ended. My first call ever was a distraught, elderly woman yelling at me to call the police because she was getting kicked out of the vehicle! I cannot make this up! This call set the tone of the rest of my time at this company. I started applying for different jobs right away. I joined more WFH Facebook groups and applied like a mad woman.
I was completely miserable at this job, but I had to do what I had to do. I got yelled at almost daily. Answering the phone was a gamble. You didn’t know who was on the other end or the mood they’d be in. Once we answered the phone, we were at the mercy of their current state of mind, whether good or bad. Not to mention, there were company changes that were made frequently that had a negative impact on the members. It was a lot to deal with. The equipment they sent us messed up every day, no exaggeration. I dreaded Sunday evenings cause I knew Monday was coming. Sometimes I’d cry because I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I was traumatized. When I got off work, and finished helping my kids with school and dinner, stalking job sites, FB groups, and using AI to update my resume became my second job.
Divine Connection
In early April, I reconnected with a friend I’d known for years and previously worked with. She had been working from home for a few years, so she knew the struggles of finding the right position and title that works for the individual person. Her company wasn’t hiring but she advised me to reach higher, and aim for jobs that paid more! I was applying for jobs that had decent pay, but she reminded me of my past experiences and my worth when it came to working. She encouraged me to go for the jobs I automatically disqualified myself for due to the starting pay. I didn’t feel good enough to even apply! Or I felt I didn’t have the right experience since I hadn’t worked in so long. God used her to shift my entire mindset and eventually the trajectory of my life. So, I took her advice and started applying for those higher paying jobs!
Press!
The more jobs I applied to, the more rejections I got. A lot of them were automatic too! Sixty seconds after pressing “submit”, I’d already have the rejection email. By mid April I was mentally exhausted. I told the Lord, “I am not applying to anything else…if a better job is coming, YOU have to do it!” I stopped applying for about two weeks. I didn’t even visit the groups anymore and when they popped up on my timeline, I kept scrolling! I was losing the faith and yet being strengthened at the same time. Each day, I felt I couldn’t take it any more at the job I was at…but the Lord sustained me! I was thankful for the job, but it was so hard. And I’m so glad the grace of God covers me in both. As the month of April was coming to a close, I felt a nudge to look one more time. There was a FB post staring at me. Two of them actually, and they were higher paying positions. I applied to both.
A few weeks later, during the first half of May, I had two interviews for one of the higher paying companies I applied to. The first one was a phone interview, and the second was via zoom. Later that same day, I had a missed call. My immediate thought was “Oh Lord, they rejected me fast too, and they’re calling to tell me about it!” I got myself together and called back. It was actually a job offer!!! I praised the Lord so hard that day in my car right in the gas station parking lot! I knew three things immediately:
1. This was a God thing.
2. Because this was a God thing, it had to be a better than the job I was at.
3. God didn’t bring me this far to leave me.
Knowing these facts sustained me. My new job wouldn’t start until August and I had to do a few things to prepare for it, but it was so worth it. That three month wait was tough! It was a weird transitional space. I still had to work my current job, but now I had so much hope! There was a solution! The dark cloud had to lift and God did it!
Update
I have been at this job for a few months now, and it has been great! Nothing is ever perfect, but that’s what Heaven is for, so I don’t expect perfection. But I can say, the Lord is in it. About a month ago as I was flipping through my Bible in prayer, the Lord pointed out Psalms 66:12 to me. It says “we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” It pricked me a little, and I thought it was cute. A few days later, I was directed right back to that same scripture! It got in my Spirit and I knew the Lord was highlighting that for me, personally, and it had little to do with finances 🙂 I was a new person. I no longer jumped when the enemy whispered, “boo”. I learned that when problems arose, the Lord was going to be my defense. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. During this first year, the Lord solidified me.
I remember seeing a quote from Brene Brown that said, One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else’s survival guide. I feel like out of all the blog posts I’ve written, this one will do just that. I have no regrets on not working outside of the home, and raising my children. I have no regrets on homeschooling them. I have no regrets on any time that was spent nurturing, and discipling the gifts God gave to me! Other than a few bumps in the road, He restored me back into a position, as if those ten years being at home hadn’t happened on my resume! That’s such an incredible ‘GOD thing’ for Him to do! If you’re wanting to learn how to start working from home due to your own family needs, and need to gain the experience to do so, or if you’re in a transitional season of life, just know what the Lord did for me, He can do for you. Don’t stop praying, and follow where and how He leads because He knows the way that you take. Nothing is hidden from Him and He will take care of you. I’m the proof of that, and He’s not done with me yet.