Ready? Reset. Go!
By Janine Carrero
What are the innermost parts of yourself that you hide? Who are you hiding them from? And why? While our answers to these questions may be similar or completely different from that of others, there is one undeniable truth that applies to us all…we cannot hide them from God!
“God is in charge of human life, watching and examining us inside and out.” Proverbs 20:27 (The Message)
Unlike a self-closing door, it was unexpected when God closed the door on my job for thirteen years in 2020. As the door slammed shut on my means to provide for my family, I hid my fear. Despite having just built and furnished a new bigger home a little over a year earlier, in addition to other bills, my fear was not driven by financial security. I was afraid of the reset.
Long before I was laid off, God had given me a vision-a vivid glimpse into how I would help others for His glory. The opportunity to share my time, talents, and treasure to serve God more purposefully is exciting! So much so that it kept me up many nights with idea after idea. But alongside the exciting thoughts, scary thoughts crept in and stole my hope. Rejection. Judgment. Failure. Lies of the enemy that took me on a journey to disobedience rather than a journey to purpose. Lost, I continued to travel down the highway of excuses and took the wrong exit of inaction. This left the promises of God locked in a suitcase in the trunk of my car as I stood idle to map out a course that would keep me within my comfort zone. This posed a problem, as my comfort zone prioritized my demanding, high-paying job. As a result, my journey took me through detours like imbalance, stress, and frustration. All while running on fumes and sacrificing the things I cared most about…my relationships with God and my family. Then came the day I turned onto an unlit dead-end street, and Jesus took the wheel with a layoff!
My faith at this moment was not as strong as it is now, but I knew immediately that God was at work. So, I thanked Him for closing this door. And I have since learned that closed doors, often thought of as trouble -such as losing a job- is the transportation that will help get us to our purpose!
A career reset at any age can be overwhelming. But at forty-four and in the middle of a pandemic? This reset had me on a merry-go-round of emotions. I was up with excitement one minute around the opportunity to evaluate my career and rebuild on the parts I loved. Then, my emotions came down as I contemplated on the same scary thoughts I had run from when God gave me that vision. The best was next. But continuing to allow fear to get in my way, in addition to losing confidence in myself, I stayed stuck and unsure of the actions I needed to take to reset and get to my next.
I hid this fear from my family. And I tried to hide it from myself at first. My why was that it was an unprecedented time of uncertainty and change, and I could not afford to give my children, my husband, or myself one more thing to worry about. With the world emphasizing how everything negatively impacted our mental and physical health, I knew I could not do this without intimate knowledge of my identity in Christ. Therefore, my first next step was to strengthen my connection with God. In starting my days in prayer and reading His word, I could no longer hide my fear of resetting from myself. And as I looked at the woman staring back at me in God’s mirror, I knew I had the courage to run toward my purpose despite the potential rejection, judgment, and failure. So, I decided to enhance my current skills and stretch myself to learn new ones. As a result, I went back to school, participated in a growth group around finding purpose, took on volunteer opportunities to serve my church and community, and cared for my family and myself in new ways.
Individually and as a community, we all experience some pain and trauma, whether in our present or past. Anxiety and depression. Substance abuse. Other serious health conditions that impact us physically and mentally. Financial struggles. Grief and Loss. Division. Separation from the church…just to name a few. The trauma from such pain results in deep wounds that we are either still dressing daily or have healed but left some scars.
What are the wounds you are dressing?
Does your treatment plan include God?
What are the wounds you have healed from?
How can you share your experience to help others heal for God’s glory?
With God watching and examining us inside and out, our actions and thoughts cannot be hidden from Him. So why even try? Instead, lean into Him. Share everything with Him… not because He does not already know, but because you want to surrender it to Him. Then seek His wisdom and guidance around the next steps to take to allow Him to rebuild you and give you the confidence to activate your purpose and help rebuild others.
Are you ready to reset and rebuild with God?
For me, this reset was an absolute blessing. Through building a more significant and consistent connection with our Creator, I have realized that God will always finish what He started. I tried to avoid being uncomfortable. And in doing so, I ended up rejecting, judging, and failing…myself! So, when my next reset came along, I was ready. This time, I unexpectedly got admitted into the hospital with serious health conditions requiring a health reset. And in refusing to be discharged with amnesia, I also chose to lean into Him right from the start without fear.
God is so faithful. And in always keeping His promises, His unconditional love for us makes it easy to depend on Him and His perfect timing. Sure, we can dwell on the time we have wasted. But we cannot get it back. Therefore, doing so will not put us any further along. So instead, choose to reflect and learn. When we understand that God orders every step for a reason, we can embrace that we are right where God wants us to be!
