The oil industry has been struggling for awhile and the Lord had speaking to us about a job change so we knew it was a matter of time. We still weren’t completely prepared the day Shane became unemployed.
It took us back to a day in 2006, when a similar situation at a previous job had occurred. Shane had just returned from a business trip, with another trip scheduled the next month. Work was going well and Shane was making more money than ever before. Then seemingly out of the blue, he was laid off.
Earlier that day the Lord had led me to pray during my walk instead of listening to something like usual. The Lord told me Shane was going to have a job change. I proceeded to tell the Lord that Shane would never quit his job; he was too loyal to do such a thing. Shane’s boss had paid a headhunter a large sum of money for him so I knew he wouldn’t be fired. I decided I was misunderstanding what the Lord was telling me. Fast forward to later that day when I received Shane’s call telling me he had lost his job.
In our 22 years of marriage Shane had never been out of work. He had always made the decision when making a job change. This was different. The decision had been made for him.
It took 4 weeks for Shane to find his new job. With severance pay and decreased spending, we didn’t even have to dip into our savings.
Here we were, 11 years later, facing a similar situation. Strangely enough, it was about the same amount of time until he found a new job. Again, all went well.
Both times the Lord had spoken to us before the job loss occurred. God is never caught by surprise and He doesn’t want us to be either.
We’ve always said God is our Provider, and times like these allow us to live our faith in a serious way. All we have to do is trust Him and follow His plan. He is faithful. There is no better way to live.