For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows grace and favor and glory! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 84: 11
In a moment of reflection, I thought about what all my family has endured this year and found this Psalm to put things into proper prospective.
In 2009, the Simpson family experienced much change, both good and bad. The year started on a very somber note with my then 20 month old daughters open heart surgery to repair several major defects. But after 10 days in recovery, with an extended stay in the pediatric intensive care unit, we finally took our little angel home. It was an amazing walk with the Lord that I will never forget.
But that was just the beginning of the year of change. During 2009, I was laid off from my banking career, my wife's parents separated and are going thru a divorce, my son started kindergarden, I landed a new job near the end of the year, and I had two uncles diagnosed with severe cancer (stage 3 and 4).
At one point in the year, I felt certain that my wife and I would have to downsize out of our home of three years, and possibly move in with my parents to position ourselves for a new start. My severance from my seven year stint at the bank was running out and jobs were not plentiful.
I reached out to our church Sunday school class and received a few leads, but none panned out. Then I sent out an e-mail to my Pi Kappa Alpha Almuni Brothers and God's grace shined upon me. A brother knew of a position that was unadvertised and put me in contact with the hiring manager.
The rest is just too amazing to believe. The credit union's Chairman of the Board is a neighbor of mine. The hiring manager is also the CEO, and a strong woman of faith. We met for a brief lunch introduction and prior to eating, she asked if I minded if she said grace. How refreshing! I had never been on an interview where the interviewer asked the interviewee if prayer was okay. I knew I had found my next career right then and there.
My new manager is a great person and I am eager to start my career on January 4th. Hard to believe that just three or four months prior, Lori and I were discussing putting the house on the market and taking a huge hit in it's value due to declining home prices. But during the entire time of angst and uncertainty, we continued to pray for peace of mind. The knowledge that God has a plan for us kept us focused on the important priorities...Faith, Family, Friends.
Many have asked me how we were able to handle all the adversity of 2009. Simple. We put all our worries on God's shoulders and he placed the yolk of peace on our heads. Before I was a Christian, I worried daily about things I had no control over. My priorities were not what they should have been. But 2009 really brought to light the need to put your faith in God and trust His plan.
In 2010 I will turn 40 years of age, God willing. And I believe it will be a banner year of praise to our Lord, good health for my family, and a fantastic new opportunity to work in my community and give back to the place I have called home almost all of my life.
For those of you out there who don't have a strong relationship with God, please consider this priority list in your lives: God (get to know Him), Health, Family, Friends, Job, Bills, etc... Put the 'Big Rocks' of faith, your health, your family and friends, ahead of the 'Small Rocks' of a job, bills, car troubles, politics, etc... When you can't find your keys and your late for work, instead of cursing the bad luck, praise the Lord. That could very well have been God's plan to keep you from getting t-boned by a motorist who ran a red light.
Instead of getting angry about who is elected to office, or a policy being implemented that you don't agree with, praise the Lord that you live in the most free country in the history of the world and regardless of who leads it, God will provide for you and your family.
God's grace and favor are all you need even when it appears that the world has turned upside down. And one last thing...set some personal goals to meet and get that sense of accomplishment. Maybe you need to lose some weight (like me), or you want to be debt free, or you need to find a new job. Set goals to accomplish this and it can be done. But the first goal you should set is to worship the Lord each day at home and once a week at church. God's favor and grace are available to all who believe in and worship Him. Set a goal to attend church each week...I think you'll like the results!! God bless and have a great 2010!!
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