\u201cThere’s a lesson in everything.\u201d \u00a0I keep discovering how right my godmother was when she told me things like this (but my inner teenager is still rolling her eyes). \u00a0I\u2019ve written about my struggle with mental illness (anxiety and clinical depression). \u00a0An important coping mechanism is learning how to process strong emotions so that you\u2019re empowered instead feeling victimized. Nothing is a waste if you take time to look at it and learn a lesson from it. <\/span><\/p>\n I recently read a book by <\/span>Rebecca Musser<\/span><\/a>, the 19th wife of a polygamous religious sect leader. After running away from the community and losing contact with her family, she was faced with a lot of difficult decisions. She had to process a lifetime of strict religious indoctrination and she comes to find a deeper faith in Jesus Christ. \u00a0In her book, she describes how she could either look at her life and say, \u201cWhy me?\u201d or \u201cShow me.\u201d \u00a0To say \u201cWhy me?\u201d puts you in the position of victim. To say, \u201cShow me\u201d invites God to show you His purpose. <\/span><\/p>\n I will share a painful example for my own life. My Hope is that you will learn a bit from my experience. <\/span><\/p>\n Last summer (2016) I lost the job I loved \u2013 my <\/span>dream job<\/span><\/i>. It was a job with people that I genuinely enjoyed working with at a nonprofit organization. We were working on a meaningful project. I was challenged every day and I was a valued part of the team. <\/span><\/p>\n Then I lost my job because of circumstances beyond my control, and my boss\u2019s control. I was <\/span>angry<\/span><\/i> because it felt personal and \u00a0I was <\/span>frustrated<\/span><\/i> because, no matter how hard I fought and how much I reasoned, the position within the organization was terminated. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t place the blame <\/span>one<\/span><\/i> person in particular. I <\/span>grieved<\/span><\/i> the loss of my job because I lost a grounding point in my life. I spend a lot of time praying trying to understand why God would take away something I loved. <\/span><\/p>\n Apostle Paul also experienced a dramatic change several times in his life and ministry. (For example: The Conversion of St. Paul \u2013 Acts 9:3-9) \u00a0Lord brought Ministry Partners into his life at different times (Barnabas and Silas). When St. Paul was sailing for Rome (Acts 27:39-44), the ship he was sailing on wrecked off the island of Malta. On the island of Malta, God used St. Paul to heal the governors\u2019 father and \u201cthe rest of the people on the island who had diseases\u201d (Acts 28:7-10). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n St. Paul\u2019s life was literally blown off course. \u00a0I felt the same way after losing my job. Mrs. Musser\u2019s book reminded me that I could either complain about losing my job as though there was <\/span>no possibility <\/span><\/i>of ever having meaningful work again <\/span>or<\/span> I could ask God to show me His purpose. I really hate the platitudes like \u201cThere\u2019s meaning in everything.\u201d Those feel like cold comfort when you’re facing a very real loss or disappointment. Losing my job was a crashing disappointment and I was in a state of <\/span>shock<\/span><\/i>. Then you\u2019re facing overwhelming circumstances, <\/span>please<\/b> process emotions as they come in a healthy way. Dealing with emotions will keep them from building up and turning into something far more damaging like bitterness or deep anger. <\/span><\/p>\n I was challenged myself to list three things to be grateful for every \u00a0time I complained about:<\/span><\/p>\n Six months on, I can share this: Because I was no longer working in that job that I was open to the possibility of other careers. God opened the door for me to use my <\/span>gifts and abilities<\/span><\/i> in a new way that will also be beneficial to a broader group.<\/span><\/p>\n Thank-you, God. Thank-you, God. Thank-you, God.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [Featured image from http:\/\/axcy.deviantart.com\/art\/Let-Down-61653572<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why Me? \u201cThere’s a lesson in everything.\u201d \u00a0I keep discovering how right my godmother was when she told me things like this (but my inner teenager is still rolling her eyes). \u00a0I\u2019ve written about my struggle with mental illness (anxiety and clinical depression). \u00a0An important coping mechanism is learning how to process strong emotions so … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25747,"featured_media":12164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[7078,7079,7080,7081,778],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n
\n