In December of 2008 I became a victim of the sagging economy and lost my job. After I packed up my things and loaded them into my truck, I sat there a minute reflecting. I remembered that it was only a few months earlier that I was sitting in that same spot giving thanks to my Lord for blessing me with that job. On that occasion I had only been unemployed for a week when He delivered me to that shop. I had just left the interview and was offered the position on the spot. My cup was overflowing with God’s blessing. Now, just a few months later, it’s taken away from me. Once again I find myself with a family, mortgage, stuck in the worse recession our generation has known, looking for work in an industry that is among the hardest hit by the economy. Where are God’s blessings now? Why is he allowing this to happen?
God blesses us in ways we don’t always understand. What may appear as a hardship will reveal itself through faith in Christ to be a blessing.
Thinking back, I believe that God gave me that last job so quickly to show me His power and to reassure me that He will provide for my needs. Without that knowledge in my heart, the next period of unemployment coming my way would have been far more difficult to endure.
So then, as I sat in my truck that day, my head spinning as the reality of losing another job sunk in, I prayed to God. I prayed for His guidance and told Him that I believed He had something better in store for me, and that leaving this job was just another step along that journey. I knew He would provide for me. I had faith.
I then called my wife to break the news to her. I was pleasantly surprised to hear calmness and support in her voice. Her faith in Christ was giving her peace over the situation, and that gave me further assurance we’d be OK.
This period of unemployment stretched for 9 months. During this incubation period, God was shaping and changing me. He was showing me things in my life that needed attention. Things that I would not have seen without His intervention.
“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.” (Deuteronomy 8: 2-4)
My first lesson was humility. In the past, I would never feel comfortable accepting charity. I viewed it as a sign of failure and weakness. But God humbled me and showed me it was an opportunity to experience the love of my brothers and sisters in Christ. To see Christ work in my life. To experience what it’s like to depend on Him to provide manna from Heaven.
I was greeted by several brothers in our church family with handshakes that left cash pressed into my palm.
We were blessed to come home one day and find our refrigerator and cabinets filled with groceries.
We received food and gift cards from our Deaconess sisters.
Another brother in Christ blessed me with some temporary work helping him out with his business.
These are just a few of the tangible ways we were blessed financially. But perhaps the greatest gift of all was the one I least expected.
As Marissa helped out by working as a home care nurse, I was blessed with spending more time with my kids.
Part of my new duties included getting them to and from school each morning. During this time I got to know each of their teachers. I attended parent-teacher conferences and school assemblies that I would have never had the opportunity to attend had I been working.
It was this direct involvement in their schooling that led me to realize that public schools were not meeting the needs of my children. At that time, Mia was in 1st grade, Liam in 2nd and Ethan in 4th. All three have special needs, and the public school system does it’s best, but just doesn’t have the resources available to give them the specialized attention they needed. On top of that, all three were being teased and bullied.
I talked to Marissa about my concerns. We had discussed home schooling before, but only now were we seriously considering it as an alternative to public schools. We did a lot of research. Marissa had home schooled one of her older daughters before, so she had the confidence she could do the teaching, she just lacked the desire. It was, after all, a major task to take on the schooling of three young children.
The public school year ended and we knew we only had a short time to make a decision. After further prayer and many more conversations, the Lord softened her heart and she agreed to teach the kids. The problem facing us now was that I still didn’t have a job. Without her home with the kids, we could not afford for both of us to be unemployed.
We felt that God was leading us to home school, and we both knew in our hearts it was best for our kids. We needed to make a decision now.
I was reminded of a story told in the movie Facing The Giants. Two farmers desperately needed rain. Both men prayed to God asking for rain. Only one farmer prepared his field to receive the rain. Which farmer trusted God more? Which farmer had more faith?
I told Marissa that we needed to prepare our fields. We ordered the books and got the kids enrolled in the home school program. We prepared our fields for home schooling.
Two weeks later, my brother-in-law called to tell me he saw an ad for a cabinet estimator in Craig’s List. Now I was no stranger to Craig’s List. I had submitted countless resumes over the last 8 months, and with one or two exceptions where I got an automated reply, I never got a call. Jobs in the cabinet trade were non-existent. I was applying for jobs outside my trade that would utilize my skills, but so was 500 other applicants. I doubt most of the resumes ever get read.
Again, God intervened in my life. I felt led to do something different with this ad. Rather than do the usual procedure of emailing my resume, I looked at the reply-to email address and was able to figure out the name of the cabinet shop. I looked up their address, and decided I would hand deliver my resume to them.
I went into their office and introduced myself. A gentleman came out to speak with me, and he was pleased with my qualifications. As it turned out, he was the man I was going replace. He had worked with them for over 20 years had decided out of the blue to take a position with another company. His decision created an opening in an economy that didn’t have any openings. I returned the next day to interview with the owner of the company for the position, and within a few days I was given the job. I later learned that my initiative to hand deliver my resume was instrumental in getting me noticed. I believe God put that initiative in my heart. I believe God orchestrated the entire sequence of events. Once again, God provided manna for my family.
Now, a year has passed. I am approaching my one-year anniversary with the company. We successfully completed our first year of home schooling, and are encouraged about the coming year. Life is good.
What did we learn from this period of trial? We learned to have faith. Through faith we persevere. Through faith we are drawn closer to Christ. I no longer fear trials because I believe Christ always has our back, and our greatest reward is yet to come. I learned to prepare my fields and trust that our heavenly Father will provide the rain.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. … Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
(James 1:2-12)
