Our Earthly Losses are Never Lost on God

For the last 6 months, I’ve been unemployed from full-time work. Losing my job was an emotional rollercoaster, to say the least.

There are stages of grief,

emptiness,

confusion, 

anger,

and 

fear.

My faith was tested. My identity needed to be reframed. As I prayed for my circumstances to change, God undeniably used this uncomfortable situation to change me.

He turned my grief into gratitude.

My emptiness into worth.

My confusion into conviction.

My anger into awe.

And my fear into freedom.

As I turned my eyes towards Jesus during this time of need, the thirst my soul craved was finally quenched. It was as if I had been parched for so long that I didn’t even realize I was drinking from a dried-up water source. Even though I had the financial satisfaction I craved before losing my job, I deceived myself into thinking that was my sole source of happiness, contentment, and value.

John 4 begins with the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. When Jesus asks her for a drink, the Samaritan woman questions why a Jew would ask her for water. Jesus then responds by saying “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

The woman then wonders to Jesus where she can get some of the living water He’s telling her about.

Starting in verse 13, Jesus replied and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

I wish I had known earlier what I know now– that Jesus is everything I need. 

He is all I want. 

All that I search for. 

He provides all I long for.

He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus is the Prince of Peace, our Wonderful Counselor, and our Gate to salvation (John 10:7-9). He acts as our great mediator as well as the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Money never bought me what Jesus’ love already has and forever will.

My employers never appreciated me in the way God treasures me.

My job never gave me the fulfillment that following Christ and bearing His cross daily can.

It’s difficult to express how grateful I am to have had the time to comprehend God’s greatness and magnificence. I’m equipped to discern when I’m participating in His righteous will for my life and when I’m not. I’m able to realize that my purpose on this earth has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with God.

I may not always be able to see what God is doing with my life at every given moment, but my faith tells me–

It’s intentional,

perfect, and 

good.

May my life always reflect the One who gave me life. As I start this new chapter, with an exciting job, fresh hope, and a renewed mindset, I can distinctly see what God has so graciously done in my life.

It is known that the Lord gives and takes away. Now that my season of job loss has come and gone, I give thanks to God for taking it away. I would go through all the tears, the anxiety, and the unknown again to get to this place of stillness, confidence, and devotion to the Lord. 

My largest loss is now my greatest gain.