I started this blog to write about things my family and I were going through. At that time I was fresh out of physical therapy rehab from a ten-year illness, the last three years of which nearly took everything from us. I was also flush with gratitude for God for the wonderful healing and recuperation he had bestowed upon me. That has not changed.
I am still very grateful to God for healing, for strength that has been rebuilt over the period of time since then. God, the God of Christianity, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has restored my health. I am healthier and stronger than I was twenty years ago. I dwelled upon Isaiah 61:3 when I started writing here and I still believe I have experienced that type of restoration.
I know, you are waiting for the BUT. But something happened. But something went wrong. But it all went south and turned bad and I lost ground. Well, no! I am still healed and walking in divine health. The enemy of our souls desires to sift us and steal from us and ultimately destroy us, and certainly he would take away that healing if he could. Alas, he cannot. I stand today upon God’s Word the Holy Bible and all the truths revealed in it. I stand upon the Word and learn new wisdom and gain new courage from it daily. And I will not let the enemy steal from me what God has given.
That brings me to today. This has been a rough week. See, around the time when I almost lost everything, I also lost a career. The industry I have worked in is in dire straights. It is undergoing a nearly complete transformation into something very different and in the process many jobs are going away, not to be replaced. I was in a what felt like a comfortable and safe spot for almost twenty years there, and that all went away with plants shut down, employees, managers, leadership, contractors and vendors laid off permanently, supply chain gone.
That brings me to this week. I have been working to recover from this circumstance also during the last almost three years. This week I was passed over, once again, at the final step of a hiring process. It was a personal and emotional blow, one that I am familiar with since I have experienced this multiple times recently. Of course the pandemic has created this story for many of us.
Here is the BUT…. But, every time I apply for a job, and connect with the company and hiring manager, and interview on the phone, then in person, the second or third interviews, all along the way in this process I am asking God for His will, and submitting my plans to Him, to the Almighty. I was rejected again this week after three weeks of prep work and calls and interviews and back-and-forth. Immediately my heart sank.
See, this has been a long time coming now. Immediately I was doubtful. Immediately I felt fear. Immediately I was angry and sad, almost despondent. But God! But God reminded me that I had put things in His hands. God reminded me that my hope comes from Him. God reminded me that He takes care of me like He cares for the flowers and the birds of the air. God reminded me that His thoughts about me outnumber the sands of the sea. God reminded me that He created me from the dust.
Do you know what dust is? Dust is not even good for dirt. It is throw-away dirt that isn’t even good for planting anymore. That is what I am made from, dust. But my Father in heaven, God Almighty, maker of the universe, made me. I was made in His image. I was made to love Him and to fellowship with Him and to worship him and to lead others to Him. He cares for me so much! He has taught me to rely on Him!
So when the hard times come, and they always come, I know to go to my daddy, my Father in Heaven, and be grateful. I know to seek Him and praise Him. I know to ask Him for help and to yield to His will. And then I know that as I submit my plans to Him that His will is established in my life. Then I am not despondent. Then my spirit can soar knowing that He answered my prayer, that He prevented the wrong thing from happening, that He has something different, better, more perfect, more personal, that I was designed for from the beginning, something He has planned for me. Then I am okay again, even strong and full of hope and gratitude and in proper alignment with Him who works all things together for our good!
God bless you!