When I first came into law school, I worked hard knowing that pursuing excellence was part of

my duties as a Christ-centered student. Deep inside, however, there was an expectation that
since I had followed God into the valley, that I would emerge victorious. Victory in law school, for
me, meant graduating with honors, and maybe even getting into the top 10.

As my 4 years in law school approached its end, however, I found myself in a situation that is
slightly less than ideal. I was graduating but with no honors in sight. I was graduating with no job
offers – because I was not part of the top 10, nor even top 50 – of the graduating batch. I had no
extra-curricular or co-curricular activities to be proud of. Everything that I had 4 years ago as a
fresh college graduate – innumerable job offers left and right, impressive academic and non-
academic credentials, professors who reached out to me to give me jobs – were noticeably
absent, and I struggled with the Lord.

I questioned why God did not grant me the same blessing He had granted to some Christians I
knew who were in the same situation as me – i.e. went into law school because He commanded
them to – and who worked just as hard as I did.

God – in His wisdom and grace – did not leave my questions unanswered. Almost immediately,
He reminded me of the reason I went into law school in the first place – not to be the best
lawyer who would win cases for clients, but to be a missionary who would win souls for Jesus.
In a flash, God brought to mind all the work He and I had accomplished in the last 4 years. We
discipled young women who searched for Him, and modeled God’s love and grace in an
environment that sorely needed it. In the eyes of the world, maybe my 4 years did not amount to
anything and that I had thrown away so much opportunity when I decided to pursue law school
instead of capitalizing on my talents after college. In the eyes of God, however, I had spent 4
years doing exactly what was most important – bringing souls to Jesus. With this, I thought
that the Lord had ultimately settled my restless soul – but our God is the God of so much more,
and He was not done responding to my restless soul!

30 May 2016. I came out from the first exam for what was hopefully my last finals week in law
school. Apart from celebratory messages from my friends, I had another text message. It was
from the secretary of one of my thesis panelists, asking for my email address. Initially, I thought
it was only because he wanted a copy of my thesis since, by this time, we had submitted the
final versions of our thesis to the thesis department. Amongst my panelists, he was one of two
who was most vocal about how much he liked my thesis. In fact, I remember walking out of the
defense room hearing him say that maybe he would use my thesis in his own study or case.
Thus, I was in no rush to open the email.

Upon arriving home, I was surprised to discover that the email came directly from my thesis
panelist. He recalled how impressed he was with my thesis, and because of that, invited me to
apply to his law firm, where he was the Managing Partner, even before I graduated and took the
Bar exams.

I was in shock, and then in tears. So much so that I was only able to email back with my resume
the day after. The Lord had already worked miracles with my thesis when He allowed me to
secure it as a topic despite all the dangers of duplication and risk of obsolesce, defend it in only
20 minutes as opposed to the usual one hour, and receive more praises than questions from my
panelists. I definitely did not think that He could bless me with something more from this thesis
than He already had!
When I emailed my resume the following day, it took my professor/the Managing Partner only a
few hours to respond agreeing to my request to hold my interview the week after my last final
exam.

10 June 2016. I did not hear from my professor until a couple of days after my last exam when
his secretary called my home to ask when I would like to come in for the interview.

I would spend the next few days waiting on God for a response to my question: Lord, is this the
path you want me to pursue? Because to enter into private practice would close certain doors I
wanted to keep open. But ultimately, I wanted God’s will. After all, I followed Him into and
through law school, it only made sense to keep on following His leading after I got out.

14 June 2016.

On the day of my interview, I had decided on one thing – I would not “market” myself into getting
a job with this tax law firm. I was going honestly answer all the questions, even if it meant not
getting hired. And so, when the managing partner asked me what I field of law I wanted to
specialize in, I was honest and I said “I didn’t know.” When he asked me where I saw myself
working after graduation, I was honest and I said, “In a full-service firm with a general practice,
and I’ll just see from there where I’ll be interested in specializing.” Needless to say, I said
everything you shouldn’t say in a job interview – if you wanted to get hired.

With barely so much as a pause, he proceeded to discuss the benefits choosing to work for their
law firm, including the compensation package and working ethic of the firm. Should I choose to
be hired immediately, I would also receive a one-time bar review allowance – a privilege that is
usually reserved for the top 10 of a graduating batch, who were hired by the big law firms. A
couple of times, he asked me whether I had interviewed with any other firm, and upon hearing a
negative answer, he would exclaim something to effect of, “Great! Para mauna na talaga kami
sa’ yo!” (So that we would really get first dibs on you!). I was extremely flattered, but I would
only respond with a smile or laugh as I was still quite unsure about whether I even wanted to
join their law firm. In the hour I spent in what was supposed to be my job interview, I felt I had
spent less time trying to convince them to hire me, than the managing partner trying to convince
me to sign on with them.

In the end, the managing partner finally blatantly asked me about whether I would join their firm.
I knew at that moment that the answer would have to be yes. While God had not given me any
clear instruction about whether to say yes or no to the offer, I was comforted by how miraculous
the events were. I knew in my heart that no one in my position might experience what I had just
experienced.

I was undeserving of an invitation to a tax firm before I even knew if I was graduating, and to
receive all the benefits that usually was available to those who are graduating as top of the
batch. Only through the intervention of God could something as miraculous as this occur in my
life. God had laid down the entire path for me, what reason did I have to reject such a path
under the pretense that God had no leading?

I have now been working with the same law firm for over a year, and the journey has been
nothing short of a daily struggle. Many times, I would ask God if I made the right decision,
because it seemed that I was always in the middle of some struggle and frankly, it was
exhausting. And just as many times God would remind me of 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is
sufficient for you.”
I may not be the best member of our law firm, but that’s okay because God did not call me to
become a star lawyer. I am called to reflect the character of Christ in my workplace, and
hopefully,