I heard a new word today, in a zoom meeting with a coach and 15 other laid off professionals. A woman told her job loss story and referred to it as being Covid-ed. Covid is now being used as a verb.
In the third week of May 2020 my position at my company was eliminated. It was very surprising and unsettling.
But I have to say I was ready for it. It made little sense to me and several of my colleagues but it happened.
I still have not yet found a job as of the end of June 2020, and even worse I now have a shoulder injury. Which is preventing me from tackling repair projects at my home and the home of friends and family. The shoulder problem has been more upsetting than the job loss to be perfectly honest.
The hardest part of my job loss is the loss of seeing my friends at work. My supervisor and colleagues over the past 10 years I consider friends. And suddenly not seeing them anymore, not being able to talk with them has been very difficult. I set out to write a goodbye email but couldn’t finish it and didn’t send it. It is not goodbye, its just see you later…I hope.
Directly after the job loss I went through a lot of questions internally like “why did they pick me for lay off?, things were going great”…so I thought. I was told repeatedly it was not for performance reasons and was given a generous severance. Afriend told me the cuts were very deep but its still not comforting to be one of the chosen 10%. I do know that I was giving my all to that job and to those people, my conscience is clear and I am satisfied with what I accomplished with my time there.
I will likely never get a satisfying answer to the question of why I and not someone else was Covid-ed in 2020.
But that is not the reason for this post, the intent for this post begins now.
Jesus has a reason for our problems.
When difficult and painful things happen to Christians it is important to look to Jesus Christ for answers. Whatever reason my employer had for the layoff, good or bad, secretive or open. There is a higher reason, a Jesus reason is there for the child of God. This Jesus reason is all that really matters in the long term. For those who are serious followers of Christ, this is assured. Jesus is specifically and intentionally involved with our circumstances.
Jesus had a reason for my job loss, and that is all I need to know.
I’ve not always believed that way, I used to think that Jesus was high and separate but Satan had good control of specifics going on down here and its up to us to bring Jesus in on our situations and to not get pushed around by Satan. But after understanding the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus more completely, I know that Jesus is much more involved and powerful than that. He uses trouble, and difficulty, and problems to accomplish his purposes in our lives.
So this job loss is not so terrible. Demotions, if they come from Jesus Christ are not really demotions. For example, Jesus losing his life in a horrible satanic way was his fathers plan, not Satan’s. Satan and his followers absolutely became caught up in the fathers purpose and even did his bidding without understanding it.
Be it a minor tweak in my specific job, a major shift in my career, or a time of great difficulty that I dread. Jesus has a reason for my job loss and that gives me great comfort. Come what may, promotion, demotion, or great turmoil, I am with Jesus Christ and where he leads me I am eager to follow.
Whether he leads me beside green pastures with abundance and ease or into a vipers den, I am with him, I am following him. So the sting of this job loss is not so bad, he makes it easier and almost comforting.
So if you are facing pain and suffering or even just anxiety about the prospects of pain and suffering. Be comforted by Jesus Christ, he knows what he is doing, he is doing specific things for specific reasons, just flow with him, cooperate, anticipate eagerly whatever he has for you, it may hurt, it may not hurt, either way its him and its VERY good.
