"My world has been devastated"

The new Facebook timeline is not among my favorite things, however it does provide you with the opportunity to peruse the past fairly easily. As I was doing this, I happened upon a post, made December 3, 2008.

"is asking for prayer. My world has been devastated."

I looked for posts around it to recall what it was that happened on that day that was so horrible. Oddly what triggered my memory was the previous post made earlier that day said I was on my 7th load of laundry at 2p.m! Ah yes - the day our new front loader washer and dryer had been delivered. .....

Ah yes... the day Derin was let go from Dish Network due to a clerical error.

You see, Derin had been working at Dish Network since June that year as an installation technician. Unfortunately he was having back trouble (this was before I was enlightened to the world of chiropractic care) and so he changed positions to be a dispatcher at the same location.

Unfortunately, somebody didn't do something right in the HR office, and on December 3, 2008 he went into work and worked for several hours, then was pulled into the office for the bomb to be dropped. His position changed had not gone through the computer and now they were on a hiring freeze which meant he essentially had no job available to him. They were sorry, but well, that didn't help pay our bills. Of course this was also 3 weeks before Christmas. I was working part time for the Red Cross teaching CPR classes which I was able to increase a little during the weeks that followed which helped a little.

Words cannot accurately describe emotions in that conversation. Derin had been doing a great job. He had caught on quickly in the office. The world was going great. And then now he didn't have a job and he wasn't his fault at all. He was told he could reapply after January 1st when their hiring freeze was lifted.

Derin was able to get on at a temp agency for a few weeks and then as soon as the new year came he reapplied.

Finally the day came - he got his job back.

Relief.

Praise and Thanksgiving.

Here's my super spiritual "Are YOU the Pastor's wife?" commentary here.

I don't recall any particular Scripture that got me through that time. I recall my broken emotions. I recall feeling so very wronged.

See? Pastor's wives aren't any more spiritual than the next person.

We struggle. We hurt. We complain. Our homes are messy (you should have seen mine tonight for our impromptu opportunity for hospitality! Thankfully our guests were gracious!). We lose our tempers. We yell at our kids. We have to repent and struggle with sin just like the person we're sitting next to.

As I sit here though and remember that time and that struggle. I can be thankful. We have learned to not take jobs for granted. We have learned that sometimes as much as we are broken to do it, we have to lean on others around us.

The next thought I have is how selfish I was to be focused on how wronged we felt. Contrast that to Jesus.

Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life. He never did anything wrong. But he was hung up on the cross, treated like a criminal, beaten beyond recognition, because WE, YOU, I, sin. And "I" feel wronged for my husband losing his job?

How much I still have to learn...