Job is my patron saint. Job was a guy who lost it all in one devastating swoop - kids, property, livelihood, friends. People who were watching what was happening to his life were telling him to curse God and die, it was all so awful.
Seven years ago I was down to almost nothing, too. Brent and I were separated and barely speaking, people I thought were my friends dropped out of my life in the wake of my marriage’s demise, I had given up my ministry career of a decade, we had sold our dream home and Caleb and I were living in a tiny little guest house on an alley. My saving grace was our amazing son, a few supportive friends, family, and God’s great faithfulness. But that Thanksgiving, I felt like Job.
God restored our marriage and gave us a new ministry and new home, but immediately we suffered through a miscarriage. Over the next few years there more miscarriages.
Yep, Job again.
But God has a way of restoring what’s been taken, of healing what’s been hurt, of giving us back what the locusts have eaten. It doesn’t always look the way we think it’s going to, or the way we want it to be. It’s usually much more difficult, and it’s usually unbelievably better than we could have ever imagined.
Job is my patron saint, because of what I’ve lost, and because of what I have been given. The rest of Job’s story is that God restores what has been taken away from him - family, wealth, and so much more!
This Thanksgiving, I celebrate that I can identify with Job. God has changed my life as well with an incredible husband, a wonderful son, and not one, but two daughters we received into our family through adoption. We have a beautiful home, a supportive family, good friends, a new church, and a place in continuing the 3rd and 4th generations of the family almond ranch.
Yes, Job is my patron saint, because the second half of his story reminds me that God has plans to bring beauty from ashes, turn mourning into dancing, and bring hope out of despair. Restoration, healing, miracles, and new beginnings are written into the end of Job’s story, and now ours, too.
To learn more about Job, check out the book of Job in the Bible. The Message has a great paraphrase of the story.
Seven years ago I was down to almost nothing, too. Brent and I were separated and barely speaking, people I thought were my friends dropped out of my life in the wake of my marriage’s demise, I had given up my ministry career of a decade, we had sold our dream home and Caleb and I were living in a tiny little guest house on an alley. My saving grace was our amazing son, a few supportive friends, family, and God’s great faithfulness. But that Thanksgiving, I felt like Job.
God restored our marriage and gave us a new ministry and new home, but immediately we suffered through a miscarriage. Over the next few years there more miscarriages.
Yep, Job again.
But God has a way of restoring what’s been taken, of healing what’s been hurt, of giving us back what the locusts have eaten. It doesn’t always look the way we think it’s going to, or the way we want it to be. It’s usually much more difficult, and it’s usually unbelievably better than we could have ever imagined.
Job is my patron saint, because of what I’ve lost, and because of what I have been given. The rest of Job’s story is that God restores what has been taken away from him - family, wealth, and so much more!
This Thanksgiving, I celebrate that I can identify with Job. God has changed my life as well with an incredible husband, a wonderful son, and not one, but two daughters we received into our family through adoption. We have a beautiful home, a supportive family, good friends, a new church, and a place in continuing the 3rd and 4th generations of the family almond ranch.
Yes, Job is my patron saint, because the second half of his story reminds me that God has plans to bring beauty from ashes, turn mourning into dancing, and bring hope out of despair. Restoration, healing, miracles, and new beginnings are written into the end of Job’s story, and now ours, too.
To learn more about Job, check out the book of Job in the Bible. The Message has a great paraphrase of the story.
