For several years, Glenda Maskill earned good money as a data processor. Life was comfortable. Seemingly predictable. With the appearance of security. Then one spring day Glenda’s boss came to her office and announced that he had to let her go. This began a grueling time of unemployment for several months. As time stretched on with no job, Glenda wondered how she was ever going to pay for her mortgage.

    Glenda is a part of a growing and frightening trend in the United States. American businesses are becoming leaner and meaner. Companies like IBM and AT&T have laid off workers by the thousands. This problem has been exacerbated as industry giants such as Enron and Worldcom collapsed in scandal, leaving hundreds of men and women without a job. As our post-September 11 recession continues to linger, workers who enjoyed job security have become squeezed out in the crunch.

    Losing a job can be frightening. Often, the biggest pain is to the ego. In addition, there’s the insecurity of losing employer-paid health coverage. No doubt you or someone close to you have suffered the crisis of a job layoff as Glenda has. Some are in even worse shape financially.

    If this is your story, I pray that God will give you the strength to persevere, to re-train, and to find new employment. Most of all, I pray that the Father will help you get your feet back on the ground.

I pray that the Father will help you get your feet back on the ground.

    I know what this is like to face those financial uncertainties. I went through a four-year period of being underemployed and wondered when I’d ever get a full time job and a bit of stability. In time, God got me and my family through this financially lean valley. He also taught us a lot about patiently waiting upon His timing (which I didn’t do so well!), about trusting Him for what we need, and about learning to thank and praise Him — even when it seemed that our prayers hadn’t yet been answered.

    My most important prayer for you today, however, is that you’ll use the difficult times of your life (whether they involve job loss or not ) to lean on the One who is our only true security — the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what happens in this world, if our foundation is built on Jesus, nothing can take that security away. If unemployment, an impending job loss or financial troubles in general have come to your home, let me encourage you to meditate upon and claim this promise from God’s word:

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. (Psalm 9:9-10)