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Another free Religion article for you by Stephen M. Seabrook
Titled: God Does His Best Work When Everything Else is Your Life is Going Bad!
God Does His Best Work When Everything Else is Your Life is Going Bad!
Article Summary: This article discusses how God takes and uses negative events in our lives to remold us to do HIS will everyday instead of following Satan's lies and conforming to the world.
From someone who is in now back in the workforce after an 11 month and 1 day layoff, believe me when I tell you that today's employment market is radically different than any I have ever seen before in 38 years of employment or believed could ever happen in America!
As a summa cum laude MBA and graduate school educated man who thought it would never happen to him, I am here to tell you that we are all one step away from unemployment - regardless of how talented, conniving, smart, educated or secure you happen to think your position is or how much money you have saved for retirement!
Right now and well into the foreseeable future, we are in the unfortunate "perfect storm" of wrong conditions for sustained employment with the good wage and income opportunities that we are accustomed and comfortable with.
In you want to blame something try these reasons for starters, because we brought it on ourselves: unfair trade agreements, our continuous and insatiable lust for cheap goods, keeping up with the Jones' mentality, unyielding union benefit demands, overpriced and non-competitive USA products compared to imports, rewarding overpaid and under performing executives, accepting managers and employees who love the status quo and are afraid to change, societies profound interest in and promotion of pride and self above all, financial and real estate speculation, sheer material greed (when is enough really enough), self-absorbed interests, obscene corporate profits (oil companies) and the list goes on and on.
Instead of loving and serving God and our neighbor, we have directed and driven ourselves to the not yet seen full depth and results of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the drying up and scarcity of available credit, the breakdown in consumer confidence, the near historic drop in home values as well as a myriad of other "false" emotionally based expectations and reactions within the marketplace and our lives.
Satan controls the world and all that is in it! Is this the world you want to base your life upon? I would hope your answer is a resounding NO! Yes, it is true that we have to live "in the world" and deal with everyday events but we don't have to be "conformed to and part of the world." Come and let your life's foundation be focused on the "Rock - The Lord Jesus Christ! He will direct and navigate you through this physical life in the world."
What does this mean to you and me? It means we have to adjust our expectations, needs, and goals to totally accept God's will for us instead of ours, which may not necessarily be what our own personal desires and wishes are.
If you don't mind, I want to give you a little unsolicited commentary as personal and spiritual encouragement to you from a fellow brother who has been there, done that, got the scars, and didn't think I would ever see my way out!
I was so angry after my layoff that for the entire first month, I did nothing but completely tear apart and analyze my life from top to bottom. I analyzed my everyday actions and reactions, my attitudes, my friends, my commitment to God, my family, and my responses to them. I questioned whether I took all the opportunities that I had but didn't use to talk about God, stop the ungodly language, the jokes, and the unbelief that occurred in the office everyday day. I reflected on whether I took the right amount of time to talk, teach, and pray with the lost! Please realize that you don't have to lose your job to do this, only remember to do what God would like you to do, everyday of the week!
Over the last 11 months, I prayed on my knees, cried at least three times a week (Yes, it's OK for a guy to cry to God even in front of your family, it brings you closer together), humbled myself to God like I had never done before, and was so very thankful to God for the small amount of food and unemployment compensation (until it ran out) and the small amount of money that he blessed us with. I was so very thankful for the mortgage and small bills we could afford to pay as well as everything outside of my employment (home, clothing, life, health, sanity, and christian friends) that He blesses me with!
At 54 years old, my extended period of unemployment absolutely broke me spiritually and emotionally to the lowest point in my christian life that I have ever been or could ever imagine I would be at! Yet, despite the cloud of continued uncertainty, I never gave up, cursed, or forsook God, truly believing and praying that He would lead and direct me to another position (which He did) or to let our home business grow and prosper (as He is starting to.) I never forgot that God not only works in your life every minute of everyday but; that God, does His BEST work with us when we are totally broken and have little to nothing to rely upon! HE then starts to rebuild us the way he needs us to be!
When I put all the superficial and unimportant things in my life aside, God instantly and amazingly took me into His hand, walked with me, comforted me, talked to me through prayer and scripture, and started to lead me to where He wants and needs me to be! Over the last 11 months, I became closer to God than I ever was in my life before (I thought I was a good and faithful Christian before but now I really feel that I am)!
In our short life on Earth, it doesn't matter how much or how little you have (remember the story of the widow and 2 mites), what is extremely important is that you give God the first and best of everything in your life: your love, your prayers, your time, your total commitment, and yes your money, even when you have nothing! It's a total package deal from God. You can't pick and choose what you want, how often, or how much. I can tell you from my experience that it's very hard to learn how to be content when you have 2 or 3 incomes or more; but, when the incomes are gone and you pray several times everyday to God that He will provide funds for you to eat and pay your bills, your contentment and perspective in life changes significantly and radically! Everything else in life literally takes a back seat!
I remind you to always be thankful for everything, worried about nothing, and to serve God your best, everyday! Are you not more valuable than the birds of the air that God provides for! Remember, the Israelites and the manna and quail that God provided everyday and their response!
Don't look at unemployment, diseases, sadness, everyday problems, spiritual weakness or any other negative event in your or your family's life as the end of the world. Think of it in this perspective
"God needs to get you to where you don't know where you need to be, yet!"
With this perspective and HIS guidance, God will lead you according to HIS will.
In the meantime, always remember and exhibit being a "True and Loving Friend," as God wants you to be! Take time to visit with, talk to, eat with, pray beside and send messages of encouragement to all who need it. In doing so, please know that you are God's Angels who help others to learn and grow spiritually during the dark periods in our lives.
Live and be the example that God "knows you can be!"
Article Source: http://www.upublish.info
About the Author:
Stephen M. Seabrook
Stephen M. Seabrook, MBA
President, Nice Specialty Gifts, L.L.C.
http://www.nicespecialtygifts4u.com
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Keywords: God, Jesus Christ, resurrection, baptism, unemployment, status quo, sub-prime mortgages, eternal life, Satan, materialism, heaven, hell
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