What a Job Loss Teaches about SIMPLIFYING

You all know if you’ve been reading here awhile that my heart is for simple. Less “stuff” and doing more things. Real thing. Eternal things. Things that matter.  I yearn for less so that I have less to take care of, less to clutter up my home and soul, and less greed to foster in my kids.

Then came October, when my husband lost his job. I wrote then about how a trip to the grocery store looks very different when you don’t have a job. All of a sudden, the needs are all that matter. The wants can wait.

We truly only focused on our needs. And many of those needs, truly are not needs at all. Our society has come so far from what we truly need to survive, that it’s almost difficult to discern that most things we have are not necessities.

Throughout he time of the job loss my mind constantly thought about provision. Would we have health benefits, would we have money for our mortgage, would we have enough for things the kids needed. Yet God promises to provide for our daily bread. That’s it. My job is to trust Him in my daily needs. Oh, did God teach me so much about trusting Him with my needs and not trusting in the false security of the world.

If we lost our house, we are still a family. If we lost our stuff. We are still a family. If we lost all of our money. We are still a family. 

We have a refugee family that our church has had the blessing of knowing and supporting these past few months. The stories- the dirt floor, the almost being killed, having no money, no provisions. All with an infant and a toddler. Yet there they are on Sunday morning, hands lifted, hearts bursting with praise for our God.

If only we could be so content. With nothing. Yet with everything- we have the only ONE who provides true contentment.

I think God strips away everything so we can see we need nothing else. But Him.

We get pretty distracted by all this stuff. By the things the world tells us we need to be happy. Oh there is no happiness in things. We always find ourselves wanting more. There is no satisfaction in the world. None. Zilch. Zip. Zero. While we may find short term pleasure, not one of those things provide us with eternal pleasure. Only HE does.

The more time goes on, the more we focus on stuff. We have Pinterest telling us to do all these cutesy things. To make everything look just so. We have social media bursting with ideas on crafts or items we need. We need to be on guard. These things only provide emptiness in the end.

Losing a job was a blessing. I have my priorities straight again. I have my eyes opened to the ONLY thing  I NEED. I have contentment and joy that comes only from eternal hope in Jesus.

To the world it makes no sense, but to us it is Truth. I pray to keep my eyes firmly fixed on Him and to take these lessons from a job loss learned with me. To never forget. To press on knowing that this world can take everything away from us, but we will always, always have the eternal riches of Christ.