Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

It was a cold, blustery day: January 8, 2004. We were sitting on a park bench in front of a half-frozen lake, when suddenly the man I love was down on one knee, carefully opening a small box with a bright ring, asking me, "Will you marry me?" With my hands clapped over my mouth, I exclaimed, "Oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh...YES!" And so we were engaged.

We called our family. We called our friends. We shared the exciting news of our engagement with as many people as we could during that first hour of our newly fiancé(e)d state. We were both keenly conscious of the ring on my finger, and words like "fiancé(e)" and "wedding" tripped out of our mouths. God is good. He is faithful. And he was calling us into marriage.

A few days later, my fiancé and I began to discuss over the phone the now very real question of where to live after the wedding, which we were planning for that summer. Our dating relationship and courtship were all long-distance. I was a psychology professor at a major university in the Midwest, two years into a tenure-track position. He was a medical doctor specializing in hematology/oncology through a three-year fellowship program at a major university in the South. We both love our work and the people with whom we work. We both preferred to stay put. And yet we hated the idea of living apart after our wedding. We were adamant about living together under the same roof as we began our marriage.

So, who would move? (Translation: who would make the sacrifice?) Where would we live? Pretty simple, basic questions, right? You would think that two people with an MD and a PhD could arrive at some kind of answer or compromise fairly easily, right?

Not so.

At least, not by our own will, strength, or abilities. We knew what we wanted (i.e., to be together after our wedding), but we didn't know how to get there. The obstacles and circumstances seemed rather insurmountable. But God is good, and he is faithful.

Under those conditions, we did what many typical Christians do: we worried, we planned, we worried some more, we talked on the phone, we drew up pros/cons lists, we emailed back and forth, we worried again, and finally…we prayed. And we asked for prayer from our friends, our families, our prayer partners, our Bible study groups.

All the while, my fiancé was looking into fellowship programs in the Midwest into which he could transfer. All these programs said that they were full, could not accept transfers, did not have the funds to hire another fellow, or just politely said no. We started looking into the possibility of moving to the East coast as well, since both of our families live there. But again, the fellowship programs did not have space or funds for a transfer fellow.

In the meantime, I was trying desperately to cling to my tenure-track position at my good university. I did not want to look at other jobs in the South. I didn't want to be the one to sacrifice. My thoughts ranged from, "Why is it the woman who always sacrifices her career?" to "Well, if my fiancé really loved me, he would drop his fellowship and move up here to join me." The stakes were high, and I struggled with keeping an eternal perspective. Yet God was on the move. He is good. He is faithful.

Finally, when all of the doors were shut for my fiancé to transfer his fellowship, I hesitantly began looking at the job ads in the city where he was living and working. I found a job opening at the university where he was doing his fellowship, and it was an attractive job description to me, as it matched my research interests very closely. However, this job ad was for a postdoctoral research fellowship, not a tenure-track position.

I consulted with some of my previous mentors about my current situation and this job opening. I can clearly recall their words of advice: "What? A postdoc? That's academic suicide!" and "If you apply for this postdoc, I will not write you a letter of recommendation." In other words, they thought I was crazy to give up a plum tenure-track line for what they considered a step backwards to take on a postdoctoral position. Of course, they added that the decision was ultimately up to me. These mentors were individuals whom I respected, and I valued the way they looked out for my career interests. Given this feedback, I had some grave doubts and serious misgivings. But God is good, and he is faithful.

Eventually, I decided to approach the chair of my department to let her know my situation and to seek her advice. As I sat nervously in her office, I stammered and sweated as I explained to her my recent engagement and the circumstances around our dual-career dilemma. To my pleasant surprise, my chair was very sympathetic and supportive. To my even greater surprise, when I mentioned to her the postdoctoral job opening that I had seen, she suggested that I contact the program and see if they would consider hiring me as a visiting professor. It was an option I had never even imagined before.

Immediately after our meeting, I emailed the director of the postdoctoral program to make this very inquiry about the possibility of being hired as a visiting professor. I wasn't very hopeful and didn't expect much, if anything. Yet, within the hour, I received an encouraging reply from the director stating that this was "a very interesting idea." To make a long story short, after sending in my application materials and reference letters, I found myself at there about one month later for a job interview. Again, to my amazement, I was offered the position. God is good, and he is faithful.

During all of these developments, I had kept my chairperson up-to-date. She, on her end, was also doing all that she could to facilitate matters at my home institution. In the end, I was able to maintain my faculty position at my home institution with a leave of absence and take the visiting scholar position at the southern university. Most importantly, my fiancé and I could be together once we were married, in the same city, under the same roof. I could not have asked for, engineered, nor imagined a better outcome.

Now I'm writing this article as a married woman of five months, living in this southern city with my husband. Although I would not have necessarily chosen these twists and turns in my career path, I'm very much enjoying the research I'm doing here as a visiting professor. And I am very much enjoying married life with my husband. I thank God for calling us into this marriage and, despite our fears and struggles, providing so abundantly the means for us to be together.

What next? To be honest, I don't know exactly what our future holds. None of us does, I suppose. However, I do know the One who holds our future in his hands. And I know that he is good, and he is faithful. He can even weave together the lives of two very different individuals — who live in different states and time zones and pursue totally different careers — into one. Yes, I can testify to his good works in my own life and have written about them so that you also may believe and remain hopeful — even in this publish-or-perish world of academia.

Yes, this is our God who does "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."

Anonymous