“I will betroth you to me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:21-22).

As I was praying a walking Rosary one morning in the beach town of Rehoboth, Delaware, a young man walked toward me on the sidewalk. As I said “good morning,” he dropped the towel he was carrying.

“You dropped something,” I said, and he thanked me as he picked it up and continued his walk to the seashore.

I thought, “You know, it wasn’t really I who helped him. If God had not placed me just a few feet in front of him at the moment he dropped his towel, he would never have known and would have reached the beach without it. And he would have wondered what happened and had to retrace his steps or do without.”

I thought about how often God does that without our noticing. I’ve often noticed how skills we learned in previous jobs, which we thought we’d never use again, end up being crucial to the job we have now—or the job after that.

A Lesson From a Mentor

As Plain Language officer in a government agency, I created a training video that poked a little fun at the jargon in our documents. Management chuckled along with everyone else at the screening, but later, I was told to remove the last half of the video. Turns out they didn’t think it was that funny.

I was angry, but a co-worker who had been a television journalist and was a fellow jargon-hater consoled me by relating that every time her broadcast bosses had asked her to cut something out of a news story, she resented it until she realized it made the message of the report clearer.

I couldn’t imagine ever putting that lesson to use, but now, when I’m creating teaching videos, I carve them to the bone.

Lessons We Didn’t Know We Needed

In my previous business, I did calligraphy for dinners at the National Gallery of Art and would occasionally see correspondence from the curators to big donors and museum directors worldwide. I was intrigued to see how wealthy people communicated with each other. Wouldn’t you know, years later, I ended up serving as director of correspondence in an office where that knowledge came in really handy!

Think about the times God has placed someone or something in your path that you took for granted or even wondered what it was all about—and later saw why it was necessary for the next step in your career.

Painful Lessons

So, what about the painful things that happen and we can’t figure out why (yet)? I once interviewed for a White House job that I was sure I was best qualified for. They chose someone who had previously been a contractor and knew the ropes.

A crushing week with feelings of rejection and failure followed. Then, six weeks later I was offered a different job—at a much higher salary. To top it off, I learned that the supervisor in the job I’d applied for was difficult to work for.

Lessons With No Answers

My husband has cancer (currently in remission). My only sister died last fall. I had a bad falling out with one of my best friends. I’m speaking tonight, and my hair looks terrible.

Why, God?

If we pay attention, we have enough evidence of His attentive care and faithfulness to carry us through the lessons we may not understand until Heaven. Remembering the countless times He’s given us what we need when we need it—someone to tell us we’ve dropped our towel, someone to give us the tip we’d need in our next job—can help the wait for Heaven be one of trust and gratitude. Because this one lesson answers all our questions: Keep our eyes on Jesus.

Rose Folsom teaches people leadership skills that business schools don’t. Download Rose’s “Top 10 Tips for Patience.” Virtues like patience, forgiveness, and courage are the foundation of good leadership and make us confident leaders that people want to follow. Rose’s experience as solopreneur and supervisor and her study of Thomistic theology make her passionate about helping you live a virtuous life that gives you the peace and joy that support your mission and purpose.