Watching and Waiting
How could this happen after 28 years with the same company? What did I do wrong? Why, God, would You let them take away my job?
Anger against my employer, along with fear, filled my heart. What would we do? Could I find another job? Would someone hire a 50-year-old business unit manager? Would we have to leave family and friends behind?
I could see no explanation for this. We had been blessed financially. We had given faithfully and liberally to our Lord, we thought. He had given much to us. But all of this came into question. What was wrong?
The journey of uncertainty began with a job search. My heart was not in it. I was angry. Yet there was a peace in me that was not typical. Some acquaintances expected me to lash out at God, but I did not. Instead I asked God to show me what He wanted me to do. That was more than two years ago. No wet fleece has appeared to confirm God’s plan for me. Attempts to start my own business have not yet yielded fruit. We have been forced to live on stock options we purchased from my previous employer. These will run out. What is God doing?
What has He done to help me cope with this situation? Two months after I left the company I received my final bonus check. It was larger than any I had received. We paid off all debts but our mortgage. I had several stock options to exercise but didn’t have the money to make the purchases. The company treasurer discovered a method to exercise, on paper, all the stock and to sell enough to cover the cost of the investment and to cover the taxes. What a blessing! I sold that stock later at a record high price. Since then God has stretched every one of those dollars well beyond our expectations.
Recently we received a reminder that we had not paid our commitment on an academy building project. My wife mailed it in. One week later we received a check in the mail for the exact amount.
Do we know what the future holds? No. Will my business provide for our needs? Is there a job somewhere for me?
Only God knows the answers to these questions. In the meantime I’m content to live each day as God graciously gives it to me—and wait and watch.
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. . . . He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness” (Micah 7:7-9, NASB).
By Marvin S. Grady
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