by Yvonne Ortega
Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioner
Guest Columnist
“I’m sorry, but you’re fired,” Pete’s boss told him. “You’ve missed too many days, and you’ve come in drunk or high just as many.”
Pete cringed, gathered his tools, and left. The bills continued to come. He heard plenty from his wife about the lack of money and the other jobs he lost.
He had to stop drinking and drugging. He couldn’t go through this agony again. He couldn’t go to the same places or hang around the same people. He’d give in to the pressure and drink or use again.
Pete told almost everyone he knew he needed a job. Hopefully one of them could help him obtain one. He and his wife prayed and waited.
After countless hours filling a hundred job applications online, he waited some more.
His situation was already desperate, and then the car payment was due. If he didn’t get a job soon, he would lose the car.
He reached a crossroad. He could give up and head for the liquor store or his using friends. He could borrow money he couldn’t pay back or pawn clothes, watches, anything to numb his anxiety with a six-pack of beer or other drugs.
The other choice would be to trust God. Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (NIV). Pete could wait in prayer and Bible study.
What would happen if Pete and others who struggle to find a job would memorize those verses, recite them often and claim that promise for themselves? What would happen if they did “wait for the LORD” and trusted him to provide in his time?
I hear people say God is “the God of the second chance.” My experience tells me he’s the God of the third, fourth, fifth, and countless other chances.
For example, Barry’s probation officer told him he would never make it. The man not only made it. He married, owns a home, and has worked at the same business more than twenty-five years. The God of the second chance showed up for Barry and also for Dave Dahl who spent fifteen years in prison. Today Dave has a lucrative bread business where one third of his employees are ex-cons. His slogan is “We make the world a better place one loaf at a time.”
God meets people in their need, and he can do the same for you. You can give up, or you can choose to trust God and wait for him to answer you.
Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (NIV).
Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega May 21, 2012
Yvonne Ortega is an eleven-year breast cancer survivor, Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioner, Clinically Certified Domestic Violence Counselor, and bilingual speaker. She is the author of Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer (Revell) and a contributing author to The Embrace of a Father(Bethany House) and Transformed (Wine Press). She has also been published in several magazines online and hard copy. Her website is http://www.yvonneortega.com/. Her blog on addiction and domestic violence is at http://www.yvonneortega.blogspot.com