I was a typical Catholic farm girl growing up in Montana. As a young girl I thought about my future a lot. I always knew I wanted to have a career and get married someday. A few times in my younger years, I was on the fence about whether I wanted kids or not (like I actually thought I had a choice?? HA!).
After high school, I went to a university in Montana. I was not super religious at this point in my life, but I knew God, I knew I should go to church but usually didn’t, and every now and then I sent up a few prayers.
I always prayed before a big test in hopes that God would be with me and that He’d help me think clearly so I could pick all the right answers. I can proudly say I didn’t fail a single test in college, so my prayers must have worked!
I got my degree Accounting and Business Management. During my senior year of college I prayed like I had never prayed before. I really wanted to be a financial analyst for a big company like Nike or General Mills. I applied to work for several different companies, but it just wasn’t working out. I never could get an offer for the jobs I wanted most. My prayers clearly were not working – where was God when I needed him? Was He not listening to me?
When it came down to it, I had 3 jobs to pick from:
- Spirit AeroSystem in Wichita, KS – I had done a summer internship here and decided that Kansas was too far home plus the offer they gave me was not very good, although I really enjoyed my internship
- Kiewit Construction, various locations – The pay was great, I didn’t like the idea that they could move me all over western United States based on project location. I wanted more stability and this job didn’t seem like a good fit for me.
- Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Keyport, WA – Not the most glamorous option either, but ok pay for my first job and I already had a friend from home working over there.
None of my options had a neon sign next to it flashing "PICK ME!". I ultimately picked NUWC, but it was one of the toughest decisions of my life. This was my unanswered prayer. I felt like God didn’t come through for me on this one. I didn’t want to pick it, but then again I didn’t want to pick my other choices either. Going to NUWC seemed like the safest option, definitely not my dream job. Despite all this, I remained open-minded and tried to just roll with it after I made my decision. I prayed everything would work out. I remember feeling so apprehensive about starting the job that I pushed my start date back as far as I could. They wanted me to start in June and I started mid-August. After all, I had to help my family with harvest on the farm ;)
The first year at NUWC was terrible, but this is also when I really started to explore my spirituality and started to lean a bit more on God. I was so miserable that I had no other option but to pray and ask Him for strength. I asked that He allowed me to trust Him to lead me down the right path in life. I prayed for other things too. I always prayed that I would find a husband who would help bring me closer to God. I prayed for my family and friends and I prayed for companionship with the Lord. I really got into running and spent a lot of time worshiping and praying during long runs. It was very very good for my soul and it’s how got through the first 2 years working at NUWC (that plus, running and a few good friends could get me through anything at that point). But, I truly did not enjoy my job and I felt like I was never going to meet Mr. Right in the Seattle area. My kind of people were in Montana, not Seattle. I’m a farm girl, not a city-slicker. I was desperate and I felt like I was wasting time and happiness with this job. I was ready to move on and started thinking about moving back to Montana.
But, something funny happened. Just about the time I gave up on God and decided it was time to take matters into my own hands, I met someone not too far from NUWC.
My youngest sister was living in Billings, MT and dating a farm boy from Washington. Her boyfriend had two older brothers, one of them had just moved to Bainbridge Island about month prior. His apartment was a 20 minute drive from my house. Since he was new to the area my sister suggested that I meet up with him and perhaps introduce him to my friends.
So, I met him.
We met at Hale’s Ales in Silverdale, WA and enjoyed getting to know each other over a couple beers. Some people call it fate, I call it an act of God. From that day forward, God has answered a million other prayers I thought could never be answered.
His name is Chris Concienne, a Catholic farm boy with conservative values, a quality sense of humor, superior social skills and the heart of gold. He proposed to me 7 months after we met and we were married a year later. We got back from our honeymoon and we both had job offers in Spokane. We moved to Spokane, bought a house and currently have two precious little boys creating cute little disasters almost 24-7. Chris keeps me in check religiously. We say our dinner prayers as a family, we go to church MOST Sundays, and occasionally Chris makes me say the Rosary in the car. He is my reminder to keep God close. When our marriage gets tough we look to God for help because lets be real here, it's not always love and laughter, we ain't perfect!
Now, I work for the Farm Service Agency and after 3 years with the agency, I'm training to be a Loan Officer (which requires lots of financial analysis for farmers, woohoo!). I thoroughly enjoy my job (95% of the time).
Honestly, it took over 2 years after my seemingly unanswered prayers, to realize that God was answering my prayers all along. Through this, I have built trust into my relationship with Him and no longer sweat it when things don’t go the way I thought they should.
I believe God has a plan for us all, so just relax and enjoy the ride! (And...PRAY!)
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