Spiritual Lessons From Unemployment - Part 1: I'm Really Not Poor

I've been on a long, mind boggling journey in the world of under-employment.  Absolutely nothing has worked out.  I've been offered three jobs that were later rescinded due to loss of funding because of the economic downturn of the last year.  I've been offered several multilevel marketing opportunities to sell insurance, internet access, digital phone service, energy drinks and juice.  I've also been offered opportunities that don't pay anything, where I would have to 'raise my own support'.  I've become a full participant in the welfare state which doesn't bode well for my future as a Libertarian. I have applied for dozens of positions, in and out of my field, without success. So now I work on an "as needed" basis as a private investigator, fill pulpits for colleagues, teach seminars at churches and continue to pray fiercely for work. It has been both faith building and humiliating.  I'm inspired and embarrassed.  I've learned a great deal and grown deeper in my faith and trust in God.  And I have decided to blog about it.  Here is lesson one: Even when I had work prior to being laid off, the US government said I was below the poverty line and I qualified for government assistance. In other words, they said I was poor. Despite being "poor" I have two vehicles, an enormous house with heat, clean clothes every day, safe water in the house and enough food to eat daily — so much so, that I'm slightly overweight. My first lesson learned was one I already knew but needed a reminder of: despite the US government's assessment of my situation, I'm really not that poor. It's difficult to remember that some days. Even with no job and receiving benefits from the welfare system, I am still in the top 5% of richest people on the globe.  How rich are you?  Check out the Global Rich List and put in your income. No job but I still have an income and friends and food pantries.  I am really so blessed.  I am not poor.  Despite the fact that I meet the US government's standards for being impoverished, I am not poor.  I am blessed with abundance. Even without an income, I still have a positive net worth. I'm not poor.  If you live in the US, it's not likely that you are either. ———————— A series of lessons and observations I have learned from my experience of being underemployed.