Jobless but trusting, the only way to be

This week was another hugely difficult trial for some old friends.

When you spent 34 years developing friendships in the field of journalism, it's difficult since that field is taking blow after blow. Friends are being laid off and being laid low by, what, a career field that is akin to a mine field.

My friends have reached the age and the pay scale that they are prime candidates for their employers to simply let them go or phase out their positions.

How do we, as believers, handle such matters? You work and you work and you get better and in some cases darn good at what you've chosen to do with your employment life and suddenly, the world caves in on you. What do you do with that, emotionally and mentally?

Paul, who was a fine, fine theologian before being knocked off his high horse on the road to Damascus, knew a thing or two about such matters. He was proceeding with his career, when his career path literally changed in a second. From then on, he had to come up with new ways of doing new things. He knew only one thing with certainty: God could be trusted.

Paul (or someone who followed Paul's teachings) wrote to the Hebrews, "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd."

The apostle Peter, who knew a thing or two about career changes, wrote, "Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know."

There's merit in the one door closes and God opens another thinking. There really is. In the Old Testament, David wrote, "Pile your troubles on God's shoulders — he'll carry your load, he'll help you out. He'll never let good people topple into ruin."

Jobs gone, trust God. Lives changed, trust God. Depression common, trust God. Money troubles, trust God.

The greatest of authors, God himself, said this in the Psalms, "If you'll hold on to me for dear life. I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party."

Sometimes it is an effort just to hang on, to hold on, to keep trying one more day. Sometimes we wonder just how this could have happened. Sometimes we're so down we can't help but see up.

When we do, there He is. Call him and he'll answer.