I found out in church today that one of the young ladies lost her job. When she walked in, I knew immediately that something was wrong. If you’ve ever been fired, then you know that feeling. The rejection. She was so broken. I did not get the particulars but it didn’t matter. She was completely lost. She sat at the back with that look of, “What am I going to do now?” That broken record that goes through your mind with the list of your plans, your bills, your needs all put on hold indefinitely.

There is a point before the sermon where we hug each other good morning and welcome and it’s when I found out what happened. The pastor’s wife asked me to give her a hug. I made my way over to her, hugged her and asked if she was okay. She just crumpled in my arms. I hugged her tightly and let her know that it was going to be all right. She just started sobbing and my heart broke. I told her I knew how she felt. I told her that it was okay to be upset but explained that when God removes something, He gives it back better than before. That He has a better position waiting for her. I realized at that moment as she cried harder, that she didn’t understand it quite yet. That she took my words but the gravity she won’t realize yet.

In my time on this earth, in my walk with God, I’ve learned something very important about loss. We hear our pastors tell us that when we decide to go on this walk, there are changes. We are told that we are going to lose people. Not everyone is meant to go. What I didn’t hear though, is that sometimes God wants you to be somewhere else. In order for His plan for you to move forward, he needs you to be somewhere else. We hear about people called to serve elsewhere but not uprooted to begin our journey to purpose. We prepare ourselves to lose people and we sometimes already know who has to go but we don’t consider that God can completely uproot us. We figure that we can do our walk where we already are. Sometimes that’s just not the case. Sometimes God needs to remove something so that He can replace it with what should be there.

We fill ourselves with the concerns of this world so much that God needs to put us through a purging process before we can be used. For some He does it all at once for others, He does it in seasons. (I’m one of the seasonal people.) During these times though, I keep in mind 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV): Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. In order to become new, a change has to occur. We don’t say it but we take it as a modification to what we are already involved in. As if God is going to work around our existing activity. Romans 2: 11 (KJV) clearly states to the contrary – For there is no respect of persons with God. God is not bound to doing things our way. He does what is necessary for our growth and the fulfillment of our purpose for His glory. If we trust in God, then we need to recover from the loss with the knowledge that all things are working together for your good as stated in Romans 8:28. Have faith that God’s got you.

The next time you experience a loss, remember God will restore what you have lost. The bible says it. The story of Job is the perfect example. Job lost everything but he kept his faith in God intact. He had his pity party. However, he did not lose his faith and God restored everything in a double portion. ~ Selah