Looking Exorcised

I listened to a friend relate the horrible week she had endured. She told me that she felt that she didn’t belong in her position, was disrespected, nothing more than a glorified secretary, unworthy, unappreciated, under-educated… To top it off she was going to be interviewing a new hire that she was going to manage. The position required a PhD, and experience that was greater than hers. To top it off their salary would be substantially higher than hers. She was feeling low. Although she was doing her best it didn’t seem to be enough for certain people who “email yelled” at her and then took their complaints to others without waiting for my friend to respond. She was also fighting a battle (without back-up) to secure an office for the new hire. In a wild and totally out of the blue event, she was given an office for the new hire. The building manager even helped her clean out the space and arranged for it to be painted, carpeted, and refurnished! But that wasn’t the best part. The department chair went into a lab where equipment for imaging was housed with another faculty member who wanted to expand into that area. The space had an used office and several empty cubicles in addition to the imaging equipment. The chair exited the lab and saw my friend sitting outside the door where she was waiting for a student to be trained on the imaging machine. The chair asked my friend why she was sitting in the hallway at a student desk (the kind with the arm/desk top on one side). When the chair asked if that was her desk, the response shocked her. “No this isn’t my desk. I don’t actually have a desk or an office.” The chair then pointedly asked why as the associate director she didn’t have an office. Her answer was that she was not a Biology department employee and so was not given an office. (Also she had never dreamed of asking because she felt she didn’t deserve one.) The chair, in a very uncharacteristic manner, replied that she should take the office that was empty in the lab she had just exited. Turning to her secretary indicated that my friend should be given a key. To top it off the building manager told her that new carpet should be installed in that office as well!!

We were eating lunch as she laid out the events. She related this to me and was just flabbergasted that the events had unfolded in such a favorable manner. I had to finally stop her when she started second guessing if she would be able to remain in her new office. Why is it we have no problem believing that our phones, computers, and interfaces (like Alexa or Siri) are eavesdropping on our conversations but can’t accept that God is doing that and more by listening to our hearts and minds? The only explanation for the miraculous boon of getting her very own office plus getting an office for whoever the new hire will be is Divine Intervention. I reminded her that she is educated (a masters degree), she is worthy of respect, she deserves the position. Then I told her that obviously God agrees! I’m hoping that she will be able to exorcise her self-doubt and accept that she is blessed.