Finding Job Security
TOWARD the end of the Depression in the 1930s, my husband lost a good job as an accountant. We had to pull up our first roots as a young couple and move to a city where we hoped to find more employment opportunities.
Many of us have had such experiences, which cause us to have compassion for those who are looking for employment. We know how hard it can be to remain confident when thoughts of fear and failure come in like a flood. We also know, however, from our own experiences that when we turn to God, the spiritual facts completely outweigh fear and show us practical solutions. The real bottom line is that fear is not a power, a law, or a quality of God, good. The Bible assures us in Second Timothy, ``God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind'' (1:7). The Bible, the Word of God, tells us there is a way out of fear, and that with God's help we can see it. As my husband and I prayed at that time, we saw that we were doing more than simply finding an answer to the unemployment. We were actually finding an open door to a spiritually progressive way of thinking and living.
Every day I read from the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew's Gospel. Just before our money ran out, my husband got a job, of sorts. But the income was low, and he was not happy about it. I was just becoming a serious student of Christian Science, and I was trying to build on what I could remember of occasional visits as a child to the Christian Science Sunday School. The emphasis on God as Love had impressed me. I felt sure that a loving God couldn't possibly leave my husband in an unpleasant, low-paying job.
At about this time a serious rift occurred in a good friendship. I felt that I must and could heal this and went to see my friend. Reluctantly, she let me in. I didn't discuss the conflict, but while making small talk, I listened in thought to what God was telling me about His love for both of us and His power to enfold us both in a love that could only bless. I felt assured that there could only be love between us. I felt the icy mental atmosphere warming up, and when I got up to go, she kissed me and invited my husband and me to dinner the following week.
I was certainly happy to have our friendship restored, but there was more to come. At that dinner party, my husband met the president of a big international company that was just moving to the United States. He needed an accountant who was well versed in the monetary systems of both sides of the Atlantic. My husband was just who he needed. He fitted in perfectly and continued working with this company for twenty-five years.
God's beloved ideas are productive and fulfill a good purpose. Lack of an appropriate job isn't in accord with God's plan. The means are available to bring together the supply of what we have to give in the way of qualities and experience, and the job needing these attributes. Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ``Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear'' (p. 506).
God, divine Love, couldn't create man--couldn't create us, His children--without also creating the place or need for him. This can be proved in our lives, regardless of what ``the marketplace'' insists. Value your assets--they are God-given qualities, such as spiritual perception, hope, honesty, confidence. The list is endless! Consider purpose, plan, employment, place, economy, in spiritual terms. There's an abundance of ideas that can help awaken us to the real spiritual condition of our lives, and this gives us plenty of employment, even if we're between jobs for the moment.
When we pray this way, we are working with thoughts instead of things. These spiritual ideas can be lived and shared right now. And there is nothing to hinder the wise circulation of this sort of permanent substance. You can joyfully trust that God is supplying both your place and the qualities that you need to be productive in it!
