By Amy Ingram
Ugh. I’ve written three or four articles and none of them seem fitting in this moment. I thought it’d be appropriate to write an article about the love of Christ with Valentine’s Day looming. But no, the Lord sat on all of those, changed my life, and said, “Here, write. Talk about this.” Well, okay Lord!
When I graduated from Ole Miss, I cried all the way home. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to be doing, the job I wanted wasn’t panning out, and life just seemed to be caving in from all of the unknowns. Within two months of that absolutely ridiculous time, I had an incredible internship with a national magazine, and was able to truly look back and see God’s hand in every facet of my life. I proceeded to take that job I wanted after my internship, hated every day of it (funny how God gives us what we think we want only to be shown it’s not really what we needed at all), and ended up moving to Jackson to take a job with a local ad agency. And that started the last 10 years of my life.
So let’s talk about last Friday. Week before last, one of our major client’s business model was changed dramatically, thus causing them to eliminate the need for an agency. This change caused us to lose the account and within a week, jobs had been eliminated—including mine. I honestly never, ever, ever thought I would be one of those people. You know, the kind that lose their jobs. How come I thought I was exempt, I’ll never know.
The week prior to the layoffs, the Lord had been preparing my heart and mind. It was like he had spoken to me, told me to get in his Word, and go ahead and guard all aspects of myself with his truth. So as I got the call that my time was up, I was full of his grace, his goodness, and he had protected me enough that I was able to muster the words: “Thank you for this opportunity for the past 10 years.”
Now here’s where you need to know something—that behavior mentioned above is not Amy. My flesh is weak. My heart fails. My selfish gain and bitterness is fighting against every bit of Christ in me. But guess what, He can win. He has won.
God is not shocked. He has not forsaken me. He is with me. He protects me, guides me, and ultimately has His hand upon me. I will look back in years to come and praise Him for what He is doing right now.
The verses, as mentioned above:
My God “makes perfect and protects all that concerns me.” (Psalm 138:8). He “goes before and comes behind, and has his hand upon me,” (Psalm 139:5), and ultimately means all “suffering/trials for his glory and good” (James 1). I am choosing to be the woman “who laughs at her future” (Proverbs 31), rather than choosing to be filled with extreme fear. For with Christ, his perfect love cast fear aside.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt there is one person that will read this and is either going through this, has been through this, or fears this. Please hear this: God’s got this life of ours.
I say all of this to you so that you may know that God has every part of your life—your job, your family, your friends, and ultimately your marital status under control. No plan of his can be thrown aside (Job 42:2).
Again, welcome to 2013. The year of new beginnings. New successes. New journeys. New jobs. And Happy Valentine’s Day. Don’t sulk—go serve someone. A nursing home, orphanage, homeless shelter. Do not let the enemy write his lines over your mind. Soy Amada—I am loved. You are loved. Be loved.
