By Joe Rector

Not long ago, Rev. Larry Dial encouraged his flock to dare to tell their stories. He said that doing so was one way of carrying out our missions as Christians. He also stated that, just perhaps, we might connect with another person who has experienced similar circumstances.

A little more than four years ago, Amy and I had the props knocked out from under us. She woke up one morning during our vacation to discover that she had lost her job. In the blink of an eye, the majority of our income disappeared, and all that was left was my retirement check and any cash I earned from writing.

Our lives were a mess. We fretted and stewed over the entire situation. Along with that, we plotted what we could do to recover the income we’d lost. For hours, we sat together and road the tides of anger and worry.

What remained throughout everything was a belief in a higher being that watched over us. Our responsibilities were to do all things possible to correct a negative situation; after that, we had to let things go and trust that His watchful eye would be with us.

Even though I tried to be of good faith, questions and pure anger bubbled to the surface. I wondered why events such as these happened, especially since Amy and I had tried to do those things that we thought we were supposed to do. After much questioning, prayer, and discussion, I accepted that “I wasn’t driving the bus” in this situation, and I have had to try to let it go. No, that realization didn’t come early or easily, but slowly its revelation appeared to my stubborn mind.

Over the last four years, I’ve gone back to work. First, I moved cars for a rental agency; next, I worked moving customer vehicles at a car dealership; then I substituted in high schools, and now, I am teaching a couple of English classes at Byington Career and Technical Center.

Amy has worked at temporary jobs. On a couple of occasions, she was to be hired permanently, but companies pulled the plug on that just as the temporary periods ended. It appeared that they had no intentions of hiring anyone on a full time basis. Those disappointments put us back at the starting blocks and left us, once again, wondering where the help that we believed would come was.

What we have once again remembered is that God is with us, regardless of our situations. No, we have no clues as to why things have occurred as they have. We have certainly tightened our belts and stopped much of our spending, but we still are doing all right. Each day, we wake up and wonder what will happen. The anger is no longer there. We simply have faith in our God and believe that He will watch over us. The questions linger, but we know that God’s time is not our time. We must continue to do the best we can and have faith in someone we can’t see but whom we know is ever-present.

Some might look at Amy and me and shake their heads at what they perceive is our naiveté. That’s all right. We still have faith that grows stronger in the face of difficult times. Having just completed that special season that celebrates the coming a savior who defeated death so that we have life everlasting, our problems seem small in comparison to what we’ve received. Yes, I still hope that we find a bit more financial stability, but I also know that we must do our best and leave to God the rest.