| Doubting
God's Love
When these times of trouble come our way,
our natural inclination is to doubt, not particularly
to doubt God's ability, but to doubt His caring for us.
Tell that to a person who has never suffered trials, that
God does not seem to care, and you will be severely criticized
for your lack of faith. It's a very human reaction to
question even God, at times. I think He allows that questioning
in order to get us to fully understand His nature and
the actual extent of His caring.
We can look at Martha's rebuke of Jesus following the
death of Lazarus. "Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died." (John 11:21).
She was saying, "Lord, you could have prevented
this death but you did not. Why?" She knew that
physical healing was fully within His power and yet for
some reason He had chosen not to heal her brother. Understandably
she was disappointed in Jesus.
Are we never disappointed in Him? Maybe
it's more correct to say that we are not disappointed
in Him, but rather that we are sometimes disappointed
by His response to our need. We are not disappointed
in His ability to affect the outcome of a situation but
rather in the way He actually affects the outcome. Martha
still loved Jesus and had full faith in Him and His power.
That did not lessen the disappointment she obviously felt.
When our prayers go unanswered, we are bound to feel the
same empty disappointment. For the life of us, we can't
find the answers. Martha said, "Lord, if you had
been here...."
Job Losses Come Again and Again
Over the course of my working career,
I have experienced five periods of unemployment. The nature
of my career is such that I have often been with companies
which for one reason or other fail and cease business,
or are bought out by other larger companies, or go through
structural changes. All of these things can and do lead
to job cuts.
The first time I lost my job, my time
of unemployment lasted three months. Naturally there was
a lot of personal stress accompanying that loss. I had
never been out of work before and all of my previous moves
from one job to another had been on my own terms. This
was entirely new and unfriendly territory. During that
three month period, I was active in my job search and
I gained several interviews with prospective employers.
Still, it took the entire three months for me to be hired
and return to work.
Two years later unemployment hit again.
Once again, the length of time out of work was three months.
Yes, I felt many of the same stresses I had felt the first
time and I'm not sure I could say that I felt any more
confident about the outcome. I certainly questioned "why?"
just like the first time. I thought that I had learned
my lessons in trusting God the first time. He had provided
for our every need the first time so why would He not
this time? He did, but I still felt the doubt and fear.
Perhaps I am just a slow learner.
Approximately twelve years passed before
I experienced my next job loss. My employer at the time
had been bought out by a much larger company and I was
in field level management at the time. That is not the
place to be when you are the victim of a corporate buyout.
This time there was something different about my unemployment
experience. By this time in my life my age was becoming
a factor in the job search. I work in the high tech field
of medical electronics. In this field, just like any technical
field, age discrimination is a very real fact of life.
They may deny it all day long but it's a fact. There comes
a point in the technology world where no matter your skill
level, experience or talents, you become unhirable. Additionally,
the fact that I had spent the previous twelve or so years
in a management role rather than on the technical front
lines did not help. This time, though the period of unemployment,
just like the previous times lasted three months, I had
far fewer interviews offered to me. It was not a matter
of fewer job openings available. There were scores of
job openings available. I just could not get the interviews
like I had in the past. During one interview I did get,
I could sense the coldness on the part of the interviewers
when they discovered that I was no thirty year old. Though
I was highly qualified for that position (I may have been
the most qualified applicant that they interviewed) I
was not considered for the job.
Nevertheless, I ended up being hired by
another employer. This position lasted four years and
then because of changes within the structure of the company
and the particular industry that company was in, my position
was eliminated. I was on my way home from a project out
of town when I was paged to call in. I remember driving
home after the conference call with my boss and the HR
representative where the news was broken to me, praying,
"Lord, I know you've never let me down before."
I tried to remember all the times of His faithfulness,
and my statement was more of a reminder to myself of His
faithfulness than to Him. At that moment, it seemed almost
as though a voice said to me, but coming as a thought
to my mind. "Who says I'm going to let you down
this time?" I accepted that as a correction and
a confirmation of the reason for my faith in Him. God
had always taken care of our needs before and this time
would be no different. And like before, He was going to
provide suitable employment for me.
While Others Seem To Get The Breaks......
We have all heard the testimony of someone
who has experienced job loss which was quickly followed
by a replacement job. Often a new job position far better
than the one lost and sometimes the new job was found
before the end of the day of the lost job. God is certainly
able to provide such miracles and we are right to praise
Him for those answers to prayer on behalf of the recipients.
That has never happened to me. I have always had to use
up every penny of the severance pay from the lost job
and spend time drawing Unemployment pay, which as we all
know is a pittance in comparison to the lost wages.
My previous times of unemployment had
lasted three months. Such was not to be the case this
time. This time my unemployment stretched out for a full
year. During that time period, I could not buy an interview.
I had a total of two interviews the entire year.
In spite of scores of openings posted, and with the numbers
of those listings which matched my qualifications exactly,
I could get no response from any of them. Not even a phone
call or an acknowledgment of my application and resume
submission. That is other than the standard form letters
sent out automatically informing me that my resume was
received and if my qualifications matched..... Well you
know the story. I was bone dry and living in a desert.
Often trials work to push people away
from God. Some will abandon God for they believe Him to
be totally uncaring and incapable and thus irrelevant
in their lives. "If God really cared....."
It's easy to understand that sentiment. Many of us, on
the other hand, find that in those times we have no place
to turn but to God. Where do we go if we walk away from
Him? I felt like Job (if you want to understand what it
is like to feel neglected by God, read the story of Job).
This may be the end of my life, but I'm still going to
trust Him. What else can I do? To whom else can I go?
I have always been a lover of and a student
of the Word of God and though not one who turns to it
in times of trouble only, but in times of success as well,
I did bury myself in the Scriptures more than ever before
at this time. At the same time a sense of hopelessness
was setting upon me. The World would call it "depression."
It was not exactly that although there were periods of
emotional depression present. I was experiencing a spiritual
dryness. Something was wrong and I was struggling to find
out what it was. Lord, have I done something to deserve
this? Is there sin in my life which I am being punished
for? Lord, if that is the case reveal it to me so I know
what to seek forgiveness for. Total silence.
A Kick In The Stomach
Often during these times of spiritual
and emotional deadness on our part, attacks will come.
I was not immune to such attacks any more than anyone
else. The attacks came my way in various forms. One particularly
hurtful one came in the form of accusations from someone
close. I was told that the problem was a spiritual matter
and that I was suffering because of wrongs within my life.
Needless to say, that caused the floor to drop out from
under me. I was totally innocent and the attacker was
completely wrong. I will say the accusation came with
good intentions, not malice, but that did not help soothe
the wound nor did it make the accusations accurate. I
spent much time before God asking for revelation of my
sin. Total silence from God. Nothing. I knew I was innocent
of the charges but that did not make me feel better. The
only thing that kept coming to mind was the instance when
the disciples asked Jesus about the cause of the man's
blindness. "Lord, who sinned, this man or his
parents that he was born blind?" Jesus' answer
was, "neither." The blindness had nothing
to do with anyone's sin. That passage kept coming back
to me time and time again. Besides, anyone who earnestly
seeks for revelation of sin, either hidden or otherwise
in their life will have it revealed to them by the Holy
Spirit. I quickly learned that this mess I was in was
not because of faults of mine. No, none of us are perfect
and we seek daily to rid wrong thoughts and actions on
our part from our lives so to say I am faultless would
be incorrect, but the wrong I was accused of was non existent.
That was not the cause of my situation.
The attack had an affect on me though.
I am a teacher at heart and in practice. I am given to
writing and instructing and in addition to my career activities
as a technical instructor (as well as having done much
clinical teaching) I have taught Sunday School classes
and other forums on biblical subjects. It is a calling
of mine. But, that calling was directly affected by the
attack and I made the decision that I would never teach
again. No one would want to hear what I had to say on
any subject, and thus I was simply going to be a silent
spectator from this point on. If I had formed opinions
and insights due to much study of God's Word, I would
keep them to myself. I was done with teaching.
Talents Buried In The Ground
I know that God has blessed me with talents
and skills which like they should be are meant to be used.
I'm never going to make the claim that I am all that smart
but God has blessed me with abilities born of talents,
training and much experience over the years. My professional
accomplishments go beyond many people's within my career
field. In biblical terms, perhaps I was like the servant
given the ten talents and commanded to (because of his
ability to do so) multiply them.
Now here I was with talents and skills
and eager to use them but not able to do so. "So
Lord, what do I do with all of the talents and skills
you've given me to use?" No answer to my question.
I began to feel like God had given me those talents and
skills to use but for some reason now He had chosen to
remove them from me. Not so much that He was removing
the talents and skills but rather removing the ability
for me to use them. It was as though He said, "I
gave them to you to use but I no longer have any need
for you to use them." I felt like there was another
version to the parable of the Talents. "To the
servant who had received the ten talents, the master said,
'take your talents and go bury them in the earth'."
I felt like I had been put on a shelf. There is a Scripture
reference to that somewhere but it applies more to a time
of rest. I did not need rest. I was getting no rest from
this experience. I had a different need. I needed a way
to earn my bread by the labor of my hands and I was no
longer allowed to do that.
"He Who Does Not Work...."
I felt like something or someone (God?)
had made the decision that I was no longer going to work.
Work at anything. I was to set idle on the shelf. It was
not possible for me to find employment. Had McDonalds
or Burger King posted an ad for a floor sweeper and I
was the only one to apply for the position, I would not
get the job. When God say's you're not going to work,
you're not going to work and there is no way you can get
anyone to hire you.
I know that thinking was poor logic for
none of that made any sense. God does not work that way
and neither does the normal courses of nature. In the
"real world" if a company is in need of a person
with particular skills and experience, and a prospective
employee presents to the company what the company needs,
in the natural course of things, an employment arrangement
is entered into. I was not experiencing the real world
though. Something else was at work and I just could not
understand or place my finger on the cause of the problem.
While unemployed I believed I was not
living within God's Will. I was not sinning but the state
I was in was not God's Will. God's Will was for me to
be working. We may approach God for many needs or desires
within our lives and often God will move one way or other
in response to those petitions. God's Will is sovereign
and there are certain things which we may pray for which
are righteous, but it is not within His will to move according
to those prayers. We can think of physical healing as
one example. We know with full certainty that God is the
Healer and His power and willingness to heal are without
question. We also know that these bodies of ours are finite
and there is a point in time when we are to move on to
the other side. Though He does heal, in some cases it
is not His will to provide for a physical healing.
There are many things which are absolutes.
Gainful employment is one of those. We may pray "Lord
if it is Your Will, heal....." but we would never
pray, "Lord if it is Your Will, let me provide
bread for my family." That prayer would be implying
that it may not be His Will for us to work to earn our
bread. The idea of that doubt is contrary to Scripture.
There are too many references to the absolute rightness
of our earning our bread by the work of our hands. Even
the prayer He taught His disciples contains the absolute,
"Give us this day our daily bread." There
is no "If it is Your will, give us our daily bread."
It is absolutely His will. Thus it was His Will for me
to be employed and yet I was not. For that reason, I felt
very much out of His Will but powerless to do anything
about it.
A factory may close down and leave a small
town without an employer and many people are out of work
because there are no jobs to be had. Similar situations
exist in other parts of the world where job opportunities
are lacking. I have no answer for these folks other than
to feel the pain and struggles they are going through.
I was not without work for lack of available work. I was
simply prevented from doing what should be natural. That
is, meeting the needs of a willing employer.
So what were my prospects for life after
employment? Not enough of a financial buffer to think
about retiring. I was too young for Social Security benefits.
My online business was bringing in a little, but not enough
to consider it financially sustaining. My wife proposed
that we should sell the house. What do we do then? Live
off of the proceeds until those run out? What then? Go
live under a bridge? If I am prevented from working for
the rest of my life, I can't even look to Home Depot or
Wal-Mart for a door greeter position. I actually did send
applications to Home Depot and other such businesses.
I received no response from them. It certainly confirmed
that I was not to work. Here I was physically and mentally
and emotionally able and ready to work and at the height
of my productivity within my chosen career field and now
it looks like I'm going to twiddle my thumbs in idleness
for the rest of my days. That made no sense and because
it made no sense, it just about drove me batty. All I
could think about was the fact that I had so enjoyed what
I had been doing within my career and now it looked like
I'd never be able to do it again.
And where was God this whole time? Seemingly
absent from me. I reached out to Him in desperation and
not one word did I hear from Him. Total silence from Him.
I grasped for every hint of a "Word" from within
His Word and of course He was there, but nothing answered
the questions I had. Nothing but the glaring accusation,
"He who does not work and provide for his family
is worse than an infidel." What about those who
want to work and simply are not allowed to work?
Not All Hope Is Hope
The story must continue. Again, I hope
it will be a testimony to His faithfulness in those times
when we just cannot hear His voice and He seems to abandon
us. It was quickly approaching a year now and to this
point I had one interview. That is out of the literally
hundreds of submissions I had made to companies who were
advertising for someone with exactly my skills and experience.
Along came a prospective employer. Yes! One from within
my chosen career field. A familiar company. Once again,
I can work within hospitals, operating rooms, ICU, ER,
and all of the other familiar surroundings. The phone
interview went fantastic. "Lord, in spite of making
us wait at times, You do hear and answer." That
was followed by an in person interview. That seemed to
go ok as well. You can't always (ok, truth is you can
never) judge the outcome until it happens with these interviews.
I felt such a sense of relief and certainly Sandy did
as well. As the experience was trying on me, it was on
her as well. A trial like this can even put stress on
the marital relationship and ours was no exception.
Then I received a reject letter in the
mail. The company had selected someone else to hire. What
was I to think? Actually I was all out of anything to
think. As the lady had said in her message, my pen too
was completely out of ink.
That was before Christmas and that year
Christmas for us was going to be a bit sparse. I'll state
on our finances, that somehow we seemed to be ok. We've
been fortunate to have had a good amount of savings, but
over time that account would be depleted. I was able to
sell some more things on eBay and though my online business
wasn't doing that much, a few sales came in here and there.
Sandy was given more hours to work with her employer so
that helped. I had been able to get some part time contracting
hours which brought in a little. All and all, we did ok.
We never went hungry and never got behind on any of our
bills and we were able to live a "normal" existence.
It's just that when you don't know what the future holds,
you can only see the glass eventually becoming empty.
Conservation only goes so far without a source of replenishment.
What do you do when the glass is empty?
Hope And Relief, Finally!
A miracle occurred in January. That company
which had interviewed me back in November and rejected
me called me again. The manager had made a hiring mistake.
Yes, he had hired a younger guy. What did I say before
about age bias in this industry? That hire had not worked
out at all and the position was open again. This time
another manager is over this region. I was given a brief
interview which was more of a formality than anything
else, and then offered the job. The long dry desert experience
was over. I was back on familiar ground and not only gainfully
employed, in the field I am so comfortable in and know
so well.
Just When You Think The Worst Is
Past....
I thought that all was well, but it was
not. I had just passed through a year of great uncertainty
where I seriously believed that my days of my being able
to use my talents and skills were over with. I thought
that now I would be back in a productive role and back
in God's graces. Well though I never left God's graces
(in spite of how it may have seemed to me at the time)
I was not back in a productive role at all. Almost from
the beginning of my employment with this company, I discovered
that I was not going to be allowed to use the talents
and skills I believed God had blessed me with. Neither
was I secure in this job. Hardly a day started where I
felt I could be assured of remaining employed at the end
of the day. What I had been so expert at career wise,
I now totally failed at. I could do nothing right. This
was not rocket science. It was the same technology I was
highly skilled and experienced at and yet everything I
touched seemed to turn to junk. Every project I was assigned
failed and I was ever on the hot seat.
Directly, that problem was owing to the
total incompetence of the boss I had. A man who not only
micromanaged us to death, but who was so insecure that
he had to retain total control of every small detail of
our job functions. Having been in previous employment
a manager myself equaling and even higher than his position,
I saw and recognized bad management. He told me point
blank that he was not in the least interested in my experience
and knowledge of how to deal with customer situations.
He had to call the shots to the smallest detail. That
is in spite of the fact that he had no career experience
dealing with medical equipment or medical customers. He
changed rules in midstream and directions were given piecemeal
so that I could not know the end objective but only steps
as they occurred or were dictated. It was common to be
several steps along a project or task and suddenly find
myself in hot water because the steps I was on were not
where he wished me to be.
None of that really matters in the end
if you are set up to fail in a job. This was not something
I alone experienced with that company. I saw what was
happening to some of my co-workers and I saw myself on
the same path, heading towards the door. So after a couple
of years I decided it was time to begin looking for employment
elsewhere.
Stepping Off The Cliff
Sometimes we pray for things which we
believe are totally right and yet God refuses to answer
those prayers. We believe once again that God is letting
us down. Martha said, "Lord if you had been here,
my brother would not have died." Jesus can seemingly
disappoint us. I came across a fantastic sounding job
opening. It was exactly what I was looking for and I had
a great initial phone interview. I felt that this was
a real answer to prayer. I could even feel the excitement
in the voice of the interviewer when she learned the extent
of my experiences and understood how they could benefit
her company. Believe me, I could not wait for the job
offer and the chance to give notice to my current boss.
"You don't appreciate and will not use my talents
and skills, so goodbye. I'm going with a company that
will!"
Sometimes we have to put a little practical
application to our faith. The old "step of faith"
thing, if you will. I was told that if I was hired by
the new company there was a good chance that my training
would take place in France. Though their Stateside office
was in the Atlanta, Georgia area, the headquarters was
in France as well as the manufacturing of the product.
My passport had expired several years earlier. I had previously
held training and consulting sessions in parts of Europe
and Asia but that had been a long time ago and now I was
no longer traveling internationally so I really hadn't
bothered to renew the passport.
Now it looked like I might need one again
and so I figured that as a step of faith in my "claiming"
this job, I'd better get a passport and have it ready.
I didn't tell Sandy though. I knew that she would balk
at my putting out the money for a "maybe." Her
rational was, if they want to hire you, then you can get
the passport. I know businesses don't work that way so
I went and got the thing without telling her. After I
got it, I told her. No, she was not happy but I kept reminding
her that I was believing that God was going to provide
this job. I traveled to Atlanta for the in person interview
and I really had the sense that this was one I was going
to get.
I didn't get the job. Yes, she reminded
me that now I had spent the one hundred or so bucks for
the passport for nothing. What was I going to use the
passport for now? How could I answer that? Once more disappointed
in a job search.
Things happen to us which just by their
strangeness seem to be of divine origin. I spent the day
the reject letter came rather down. Oh well, at least
I was still employed with my current job and though I
knew that my future there was uncertain, at least for
now I was employed. That very night I received a phone
call from a company who had seen my resume on line and
was very interested in talking to me. Wow! Could this
be the preverbal "when God closes one door He
opens another one"? This has got to be a God
thing for how strange is that to get such a call out of
the blue the very night the other door is closed.
To try to shorten the story a little,
this employer also followed up with very good interviews
but someone else was hired. Oh well, at least I'm still
employed for the moment. But what is that doing for my
confidence at believing I can recognize God's work in
things? Twice now I believed I saw God's hand at work
and twice now I was wrong. Or at least I thought I was
wrong. Martha believed that God's will was for Jesus to
come and heal Lazarus. She was disappointed because that
had not happened. She thought she knew God's will just
like I thought I knew God's will and I thought I knew
how He was going to move on my behalf. I had been wrong.
A few months later I was let go from my
job. For about two and a half years I had felt the sword
of termination hanging over my head. The sense of loss
of my ability to use any of the talents and skills God
had given me which had carried through that year of unemployment
and had continued through the two and a half years I was
with that company. Now we're approaching four years of
dryness and a sense of almost uselessness. Once again
I am facing an uncertain employment future. Was that last
job my last one? What would I do from this point on? Was
it time to seriously consider applying to Wal-Mart or
Home Depot for one of their minimum wage jobs?
This unemployment period lasted almost
six months. I found two more really great employment opportunities
which resulted in both great phone and in person interviews
at their company locations. In the mean time, Sandy and
I decided to go ahead with the plans we had made before
I was laid off from the last job and enjoy that Alaska
Inside Passage cruise we had already paid for. During
the time we were on the cruise I kept reminding both of
us that the current company I was in the interview process
with would be ready to make me an offer when we got back
home.
That didn't happen though. Now I had no
prospects, but every day I spent my time on the job search
sites and faithfully sent off resumes and cover letters.
I guess I should mention that my college degree is in
business management and my resume looked quite good and
had been professionally advised and prepared so it was
a good one and that should not have stood in my way of
getting interviews. I don't think it would have mattered
either way. I had also done all I could do to try to "hide"
my age as much as can be done on a resume while still
retaining important career accomplishments.
Why Doesn't God Answer Our Prayers?
You see, often God will purposely not
answer prayers because He has something better for us.
He could have arrived on time and healed Lazarus when
the two sisters had requested that He come. He had something
much more spectacular in mind. The thing is, He did not
tell them what He was going to do. He let them suffer
a little (for reasons known only to Him) of their disappointments.
"If only you had come in time, my brother would not
have died." "Lord, if you had given me that
job, I know it would have been a testament to Your love
and Your goodness. But you didn't give me the job, Lord
and I don't know why." And so my disappointment
continued and grew.
Remember the passport I had "wasted
my money on"? I sent off a resume to another ad just
like all the others. After a period of time even forgetting
which company is which so after a while, they all run
together. When I received a response regarding one I have
to go back and try to figure out what that company is
all about for I cannot recall anything about the company
which is now contacting me. This job listing is being
handled through an agency recruiter and he tells me that
it is a company located in Quebec, Canada. To cut the
already long story down to its conclusion, after some
time of waiting and talking, they made the arrangements
to fly me to Quebec City for the in person interview.
Remember the step of faith I had put forth by obtaining
the passport for one company which had not worked, now
is a reality for I am able to make the trip, passport
in hand. So though I thought God was going to work one
way, He did not work that way, but in a way I did not
expect. Now Sandy was more than grateful that I had gone
behind her back and gotten the passport. Had I brought
up the subject to her before hand, chances are high that
I would have found myself talked out of it and thus I
would not have had it when I needed it. So I guess sometimes
we guys do, in spite of ourselves, make right decisions.
The interviews, both the phone and later
the in person interview in Quebec went great. I know Sandy
was really hoping for me to come home from Quebec with
the job offer but we know that it never happens that way.
There is always the period of waiting. This would be the
case here as well. I was there on a Thursday and they
told me that by the time they discussed it among all of
the other managers there who would be party to making
the hiring decision it would be the next week before anything
was decided and an offer could be made. So when I arrived
home that Thursday night, Sandy was a little frustrated.
I attempted to assure her this time that I was going to
get this job. Something was entirely different about the
whole circumstances of the interviewing process and besides,
I had been told off the cuff by the guy who would be my
boss that "you have my vote." So the outcome
was not in question. Now it was just the torture of waiting
until the next week.
First thing Friday morning, the phone
rang and it was the HR manager and the company CEO. They
could not wait until the next week to make me the offer.
They had found no reason to delay the decision. It was
made for them. Talk about a time of praise and walking
on the clouds.
Up to today. In November 2009 I will have
been with this French Canadian company three years. It
is by far one of the, if not the best career opportunities
I have ever had. All of the talents and skills which God
has given me I am able to use to good advantage here.
At my last job I could do nothing. Here I can do it all.
I was the first field service person within the U. S.
for this company and I have been very busy with the task
of helping build up the service operation here in the
States. I have previous experience doing just that. I
was directly involved in the interviewing and recruiting
of our other two service reps and have been actively mentoring
them all along as they learn the product and the technology.
I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the favor of our
Sales and Clinical Applications team here in the States
as well as my co-workers in Canada. My boss has become
more than a boss but a friend as well. He is a boss who
is not afraid to call on me and ask my advice and opinion
on certain aspects of the operation either involving customer
service situations, service resources or whatever, and
he acts on that advice. Not just asking as an exercise.
He calls on me as a resource for which I am most honored
and appreciative. Already I have been able to prepare
and teach a brand new service school at the factory in
Quebec (I taught it in June) and more such opportunities
will follow. I could go on and on to recount the blessings
I have enjoyed here and the opportunities to use what
God has given me to us but this is enough to tell the
story.
God does not always answer our prayers.
Or it looks to us like He is not answering them. He did
not answer Mary and Martha's prayers to come and heal
their brother. He had something greater to perform. He
did not answer my prayers regarding any of those jobs
I prayed for and did not get. What if He had answered
those prayers? I would not be where I am with my current
job. Would any of those jobs have been good ones? As far
as I can tell they would have been, but how do I know
for sure? There are many things about the actions of God
we never know about. The "what if this happened?"
things which we will never know the outcome of. God does
not always reveal His plans to us in full. Often He reveals
almost nothing of the things He is working out on our
behalf. In fact, we rarely know what is going on behind
the scenes.
He does move though. It is the pain we
must go through while that is happening which must drive
us into His arms. So the more He seems to disappoint us,
the tighter we must cling to His hem. That is what I have
learned and continue to learn and I hope and pray that
it will be the same for you.
This is my story. God does not work the
same way in His relationship with each of us. God may
deal with your situation entirely differently. There is
one constant though. That is, God does care and He considers
what is best for each of us. That may not always seem
like a good thing at the time, but rest assured, at some
point in time, we will know that it is. I hope that this
testimony will provide some encouragement for others going
through rough times.
Dan W. Dooley (2009)
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