Things have been getting really hard for me. I need to change my life
Question:
Good morning,
I just had some things to get off my chest. I have been laid off for about seven months now, and it feels like I am just losing everything slowly: first my job, then my house, my unemployment. It's like everything is going downhill for me. I have been married for under ten years with four children. I have been the provider for so long now. My wife is taking on my job as a man and it's killing me inside. I look for jobs every day but nothing. I am in church every Sunday and Bible study during the week. I was making good money at my job but wasn't a faithful member: drinking here and there, smoking cigarettes, and was just in the world, not giving God 100%. It feels like He took everything from me. I am at a very low point in my life -- somewhere I have never been -- but I keep my faith and pray every night for mercy and forgiveness. I know I have to be true to God and give Him my all. I just need some advice on what to do to get closer to God and to truly change my life.
Answer:
I'm sorry to hear things have been so rough. The book of Job teaches us that hard times are not always due to God's punishment. See: Why Do Good People Suffer?
When jobs are difficult to find, there are two tactics to try. One reason for failure is that potential employers may not see the value you will be bringing to the job. Especially these days when the government is making it very expensive to hire people, your value as an employee has to be seen. There is a good book that has been around for a long time called, What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles is really good for helping you locate the type of job your skills make you valuable in doing.
Another reason for failure is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Often we are too narrow in where we look for a job. Perhaps your skills are valuable but in an area you had not thought of applying them before. Perhaps looking in other areas of the country where laborers with your skills are not as plentiful will lead to a job.
Sometimes you have to be willing to take on short-term work or part-time work that might prove to an employer your value and hopefully lead to full-time work. Given this climate, two part-time jobs might have to be used to get a full-time salary.
In regards to improving yourself spiritually, you've listed out several things you need to work on. The best thing to so pick one and work on it. Drinking doesn't benefit anyone, so start by getting the liquor out of the house. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:4-9). Don't simply stop a bad or sinful habit. Replace it with something beneficial and righteous so that you won't have time to return to your bad habits.
