“I lost my job, but I found my life”

The boss was probably making several calls that night. The company was downsizing, and a random lottery chose those who would be fired. But the reaction to one of those calls was probably was a complete surprise.”

“I told him I wasn’t mad at him,” my friend John said. “I told him that God has bigger plans. It’ll be okay.”
And it he meant it.

Photo Courtesy Kirsten Michelle Photography

As a drug representative for a major drug company, he was one of their top performers. For 23 years he had helped match the right drugs with the doctors and patients. He was the number one salesman in the district and in the top 15 percent in the nation. But still, he and 300 others drew the short end.

But from the start, he was believing it wasn’t just bad luck – that is was Providence.

Then reality hit in. “Would I lose my house? Would I lose what we had? How would I feed my family?” he asked.

“A first there were lots of tears – and fears. But as a family, we decided early on that there was something that there was great gain through this experience,” John said.

He was particularly challenged by the Max Lucado book, “Fearless.”

A repeating question in the book was this: “What would do if you were not afraid?”

“It caused me to really test what I was made of. Could I have everything stripped of me, and still not be afraid?” he asked.

Unemployment is a real test of faith. “I always measured my faith year-to-year, comparing my growth as I aged. But as unemployment weighed on me it went from month-to-month, then day-to-day, and then, minute-by-minute,” he said.

Through his unemployment, John wanted his children to see his character. He knew financially they might experience hard times. Maybe the car would have to be downsized or they would have to move. But those were temporary.

• • I lost my hope but found my future
  • I lost my footing, but found a foundation
  • I lost my fear, but found faith
  • I lost my grip, but found God’s hands
  • I lost my vision, but found insight
  • I lost my plans, but found my future
  • I lost my balance but found a place to stand
  • I lost my job, but I found life!

Have you been unemployed?
What did the experience teach you?
Have you known someone who lost their job?
How have you been blessed by them?