Spiritual Lessons From Unemployment - Part 5: I'm Not My Provider

A very important lesson: He doesn't need me to work.  God provides for me.  I do not.  I'm not saying that God doesn't want me to work, or doesn't care if I work and I can just sit around and be lazy.  I don't agree with that at all.  But for God to provide for me, He doesn't need me to work. A couple of years ago God showed me this so clearly and now he is emphasizing this point again.  Nearing Christmas of 2005 I was having to make some job/future related decisions and was fretting about the potential of a lowered or loss of income and how I was going to provide for my family.  Early one day in the car on my way to work, God said to me, "Steven, I don't need you to work to provide for you."  He wasn't saying that I didn't have to work or that He didn't want me to work.  He was just simply stating that He is sufficient for me.  He provides for me.  I do not. I pondered that all day.  At home that evening some friends dropped in unexpectedly and gave us a Christmas card.  We chatted at the door for several minutes and they left.  We opened the card and there was a check for $500 in the card.  I wept nearly instantly as I knew this was God confirming our conversation from earlier in the day.  It was his way of reminding me that even if I was unemployed He can still provide for me and has money in places that I don't have a clue about. Again during this time of unemployment, I am reminded of God's provision.  This season has been a series of experiences of living off a severance, then off savings, then receiving unemployment and other benefits, even a couple months of absolutely no income.  Each step in this progression I foresaw a financial disaster that would lead us to becoming destitute.  Each step appeared as a crisis or disaster.  Yet God has provided.  Stuff that was huge several months ago is small today because He's led us through it. God is my provider. I am not. It is so hard to get that through my brain that is wired to be the provider and protector of my family. But it's truth. Thanks be to God. ———————— A series of lessons and observations I have learned from my experience of being underemployed.