Are you listening?

L'Oreal offered me the job! So, they called me about 2 weeks ago and asked me to come in for another interview...my 5th and I met with everyone I will be working with and a couple of hours after my interview, they called and offered me the position. I am working as a Sales Analyst for the Luxury products division, which include Kiehl's, Shu Uemuera, Garnier, Giorgio Armani cosmetics, Ralph Lauren and etc. I am super excited! It's located in NYC, so I will be back in the Fashion Capital of the world. Primarily, my job entails a ton of mathematical formulas and Excel spreadsheets. I am analyzing sales trends for our products, doing transfers, sell-thrus, and research our competitor's business. I love doing reports! It'll be another huge transition after being out of the workforce for about 2 years. Won and I are working out some options regarding Jaden (daycare, nanny, etc) and having family near is soooooooo helpful. I'll let you know how everything turns out. My start date is August 1st. God has been so good to us through all of our many and sudden changes.

Pray for me b/c being apart from Jaden will be extremely difficult if not excrutiatingly painful. He's won me over completely! I'm not sure if many mommies will understand, but I truly believe that God has put a deep heart for the corporate world in me. Yes, motherhood is truly amazing and is a huge piece of who I am, but God has also put a smaller yet significant call for me in the workforce as well. I feel as though I will learn how to balance that during this season... I have to trust that if He's truly called me to work that God has also shaped Jaden to adjust to that without traumatic effects on his life. Who knows...maybe I'll discover motherhood got to me and has become my sole purpose? I have to at least give it a try!:)

On another note, I believe Ravi Zacharias is one of the greatest Christian thinkers of our time. (I have to say that Rev. Tim Keller of Redeemer church in NY, John Piper, and Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland come very close.) I've always enjoyed messages when speakers refer to other posthumously renowned thinkers such as C.S. Lewis, F. Bonhoffer, St. Augustine, B. Pascal, Watchman Nee, N.T. Wright, & etc. A while back, I read his book, Cries of the Heart, and it challenged me in a myriad of ways on the state of our human hearts. Each chapter leaves you with gnawing questions to soulfully probe and comprehend our own state of mind and truly coming to terms with it in our being. He covers topics such as knowledge of God, a guilty conscience, a reason in suffering, faith, a freedom in pleasure, loneliness, God for His people. This book definitely reassures that God is consumate answer to every heart cry. Ravi is an intelluctual genius, an apologetics genius, I should add. It's an amazing read...please read it, but beware, it's one of those books that every chapter is so enlightening and thought-provoking that you need a certain amount of time to assess and digest it. I'm not certain why enjoy reading books that challenge me and even at times, that make me feel uncomfortable. It's odd really, I hate physical lifestyle changes and have such a strenous time adjusting to them yet at the core I truly indulge myself in a quest for growth, which in fact happens through change. I guess changes are good...even the bad ones b/c you gain the experience and learn from them. I firmly believe who you are at the core determines the kind of life you live out for God. My hope is that my life is a daily reflection of my core and it pleases God. All I know is that all of us are on this journey and it's so awesome to have generous people and insightful resources to help us along.

I'll leave you with a quote by the author himself, " When God speaks there are no ploys, no gimmicks. Only life-defining truth. When He speaks we will be soothed by His touch, and we will rest in His comfort, knowing that He has heard our cries and has come near in our need."
Reassuring. God is good.

I'm still in the process of reading Life of Pi...pretty good...there's a ton of good, insightful quotes.