By: Keith Sampson
This is the part where I get to do a fun, “connect-the-dots” kind of thing…The third big lesson I learned through my experiences was that God knew what was on the horizon and had prepared me for it.
Many times we don’t get to look back and see/understand the possibilities of why we go through hard times in life. I had written previously about how God is bigger and has a plan; this is where I can see how He was preparing me for His plan.
When I was going through the upheaval of my professional life, I had to put my faith in God in ways I had never done before. I often used work to define me. But when that’s gone, then what? I had to trust, give up my expectations, and be fine with affecting only what I could affect. In the scope of things, work is work—it is not life. But it was preparing me for an upheaval in my personal life. If I hadn’t gone through the work pain, I wouldn’t have been as well equipped or in the right place with God to face what would eventually lead to a divorce.
I was going to be a single dad with two-year-old twins to take care of. As the divorce process was taking place, I went to my boss—because being at work at seven in the morning was no longer going to be a reality. His response was, “Don’t worry about it. Take care of what is more important. I know you always get your stuff done.” And that is what I was able to do: get the kids to daycare, go to work, pick them up, and then work in the evenings after they went to bed.
In a situation that would normally have been very stressful, the flexibility was an incredible blessing. Months later, I was having lunch with my friend and former boss. We talked about how, because of the different environments and business types, I would have never been able to do that if I had still been working there. God not only took me out of a job that was unhealthy for me and taught me a ton of lessons, He also put me in a better place to take care of my two incredible kids.
While you are in the midst of life, both the good and the bad, there is no way to know how your experiences will come into play down the road. This is where trust and faith in God must prevail. We can choose to exist in the present, or we can choose to plant ourselves in the hope that God brings, and that it may positively affect our future.
Today, I am engaged to an amazing woman who I’ve known for 16 years (a college crush, actually), and those two amazing toddlers are now kindergarteners. God prepares us for the future…
Keith Sampson
Executive Coordinator – God of Hope