July Blog – Women's Ministry

FLIGHT AND DROP

At the end of April, I was in Montgomery, Alabama, celebrating our grandson’s birthday. It’s beautiful there, with lots of trees, shade, warming sunshine, flowers blooming and the ability to walk outside without a jacket at times. When the celebrating is done, leaving them is never easy. So with final hugs that you hope will linger with you for hours, the travel home begins. I treasured the time with them by remembering the fun of being with family, the celebrated birthday with pool-noodle-sword-sparing, cupcakes, presents, laughter and another year taller.

As I returned to work on May 1, my hubby contacted me with news I wasn’t prepared for. He gently let me know was laid off with two others in his company.

Have you ever had the feeling of the floor beneath you falling away? I had that feeling, and I would equate it to being on an airplane, and there’s an air pocket that allows the plane to suddenly feel like it drops several feet, and your stomach does some kind of contortion inside of you. It leaves you with a high adrenaline surge, a heart rate that is unfamiliar, a confused stare drapes across your whole body, and a feeling of loss.

It’s difficult when you first hear this type of news. The company he worked for ended up, two weeks later, closing its doors. They didn’t have enough business to stay open. 

As some of you well know, there is a “flight” and “drop” of being laid off that happens in seconds. It hits your body like a ton of bricks. Then that passes, and other feelings ensue.

We shook off the “drop,” and we prayed, set a financial plan into motion and waited to see how God’s change in our family “flight” would take us in a new direction. When my hubby and I entered this space in May, I’ll be honest: we didn’t understand, in God’s plan, why he was laid off, what God had in our future, how He was stretching us or what the future He had for us was. It left us with more questions than answers. My hubby updated his LinkedIn information and contacted a few friends. 

One of the friends he connected with called him right back and told him that he and others at his company had just been talking about how great it would be to have Brian join their team.

Well … did God answer our prayer quickly or what? We waited, prayed and sought guidance. Brian had three conversations with different people at this company. We waited, felt all kinds of “feels,” and waited more. Almost a month had passed, and no job offer; still waiting. Finally, he got a text, and they “had decided to go in a different direction." We paused and blinked in disbelief. Swallowing hard, we reasserted his LinkedIn information. “Available,” more updating qualifications, resetting ourselves again. Waiting … (to be continued)

I’ll leave it at this for now and desire to ask you the same things we have asked ourselves: What is God showing you? Where are the steps of His guidance taking you? Are you receiving those open-handedly? Praying about what He’s showing you?

Friends, it’s humbling, at times, for us to be confused with so many questions. I haven’t done it all “right” by any means. But as we have prayed, God has been present, leading us through the hard. I look forward to unfolding for you what we have seen in His plan for us over the last three months and the future months ahead of us. 

- Traci Hollingsworth