The life you are dreaming of and praying for is possible.
The life you want to live is possible.
You are worthy of living the life of your dreams and so much more.
Nothing is impossible with God.
But I'm here to tell you that by the grace of God, one year after I got my first promotion, I've been promoted again!!! So I want to tell you, that after you reap your harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor, plant again. Even when you've arrived at a destination, there are so many more places to experience. Think of yourself as a tree or flower that keeps on blooming. In the case of my first promotion, I waited, prayed, worked hard, and lamented with God for nearly 5 years. So when I finally got the promotion I decided that was enough for me for a while. But then an opportunity came to launch a new site with my company and I decided to reach for more by letting my direct manager and site leader know that I was interested in taking my skills to new territory in July. The move came with a little more money, a significantly heavier workload, and the opportunity to develop several leaders who were either new to the company, newly promoted or new transfers to our department.
To be honest, when I started working at my new site I wasn't sure how far I wanted to grow in this department, but one thing I was sure about is that my work would speak for itself. Excellence always speaks for itself. So every day I prayed for the Lord's favor to be upon me and every day He gave it to me. I've been praying this prayer since before I got my first promotion and I have never stopped praying it:
" Dear God, please help me to find favor with my superiors, my peers, my subordinates, my support partners, and all whom I need to be successful"
Now, this doesn't mean that every day went according to my will, but according to God's will. The good days were glorious and the days I wished for better were never as bad as they could have been because God was with my team and me. Soon my team became number one in our sub-region at the time and I got selected for several opportunities that could only be described as a reward for excellence. By January 2021 my site leader told me to start withing my promotion document. Fast forward to April 2021, I got THE BEST annual review/compensation review I have ever received in my career.
In May, my manager called a meeting with a few other co-workers to publicly announce that I was promoted. After we finished celebrating for a few minutes, two black women separately pulled me to the side to congratulate and thanked me for showing them that anything was possible. Now that was an answered prayer for me because something I have prayed for years is for God to allow me to be a positive example to other people at work and to help me to make space for more women and leaders of color. Another amazing thing that I want to tell you is that I was able to help three amazing leaders get promoted since joining my team in September 2020 as well which is also an answered prayer because one of my missions and prayers in life is for God to allow me to lift others up as He elevates me.
I know this was a very long testimony and there are so many details that I haven't even written down because it would take so long (maybe I should do a video), but I promised God that long before He promoted me, I would honor Him by sharing my story. When God does something great for you, you owe it to Him and the people around you to share your story. I don't know who needs this testimony, but I want you to know a few things God has taught me through my career:
- The days ahead of you are greater than your past
- God can transform your financial situation in a few months, a year, or a few years. God increased my salary in less than a year and nearly doubled my starting from 6 years ago this year. I don't tell you this to brag but to let you know that if God can do it for me, He can do it for you too.
- There is no substitute for hard work.
- Your success will require you to sacrifice. I spent more hours away from my son and husband at work over the past year than ever before. I've barely seen my friends.
- Be consistently excellent
- Create boundaries with your time, respect them, and require other people to respect them as well.
- Do not hoard your knowledge. A good and wise manager always shares their knowledge with others who are willing to listen, learn and apply it because you're only as strong as the people on your team, and some work is too great to accomplish alone.
- Don't wait for a special occasion to treat yourself. Big wins are always preceded by several small wins so celebrate the small wins. The coach bag I'm holding in these pictures was a gift to myself in April. Prior to getting the bag I often told myself that I'll treat myself to something nice when I get promoted, but I decided that I deserved that bag in April because I had been working hard for a long time and decided to gift myself.
