You wake up that morning like you always do. Get dressed like you always do. Make your breakfast, lunch and snacks for the day like you always do. Everything is normal. You even create a new hairstyle; send a text to friends for their approval and head out the door to make your way to work. Work. The place that has been both promise land and testing ground for 8 ½ years. Sure you know the company has been struggling. They have been laying people off for a while now. But b/c you have tried your best these last 3 years to make your exit with no such luck you hardly expect to be one of those people. Even when you get there and see your boss waiting for you on your way to your cubicle, which is out of the norm. It never crosses your mind. And why should it? You have finally found purpose in the cube. You have finally discovered your calling is more than this job position (again). You have finally become content (again). It is not until you follow your boss’ lead into the office and sit down next to the HR lady that it starts dawning on you. “I’m being laid off”.
It is still taking some getting used to. I am still processing. And it is not because this is a loss in my life or a traumatic event like it is for others. No. It is simply b/c I had finally embraced my cup. I had finally found grace and purpose in the stretching. After 3 years of crying out to the Lord I finally surrendered. I was in it for the long haul. I was committed. God was my refuge and my strength. And now I can clearly see, that was the work He was doing in me.
And my work is done.
In corporate you do not get to say goodbye. You do not even get to pack up your personal items. You hand over your badge and as nicely as they can they escort you out of the building like an outcast to a community you were formally apart of. A community you added value to, and in most cases gave decades of your life to. And just like that, it is over. You are driving home with your severance package laying on the passenger seat, talking to your best friend on the phone who went through a similar experience just a month prior and share that you haven’t just been laid off. You have been RELEASED. God Himself has released you. Because He is the Author and Finisher of your faith. He is your Commander in Chief. He is the One who all men go through when deciding the navigation of your career.
There are times while waiting it really seems like the waiting will go on forever. I look forward and the days stretch into months and the months stretch into years and there is no end. It is like the waiting is eternal. But it’s not. It never is. At some point in time He says, “You are done”.
Even when it’s not in the way I thought it would be, I am learning the natural hardly looks like the supernatural. Unemployment and layoffs, which typically are setbacks, actually are His promotion in my life. So while others are struggling with the change in season I rejoice.
Because I hear Him say, “God job my good and faithful servant! You have finished well!” And I respond, “Father, Your Word is true. Your grace was SOOO sufficient!”
SHALOM
