How to Overcome a Major Career Setback
You’ve been laid off. The 7-figure enterprise sale fell through. You left your 9-5 job to start your own business, but clients aren’t coming in, and your wife is forwarding Indeed job posts to your inbox.
Most of us will face a major career setback at least once in our lives. These times will be some of the most difficult and soul-searching. Marriages have ended because of down job markets. Kids college plans have been postponed. Retirements have been sacrificed to put food on the table.
The question isn’t whether you will face these challenges, but what you will do once they come.
According to Rule 4 of Faith 2 Influence’s Rules of Engagement, there’s an answer to this question: Know that God is always fathering you.
God is always fathering you
As Christians, we believe in an eternal and omnipresent God. In simpler terms, we believe in a God that is always existing and always present. Even better, God tell us that He is love and that He loves us like a father loves his children.
Together, this means God’s fatherly love is always present even if we feel distant from Him.
It might seem contradictory, but this distant feeling is often the tool God uses to love us. God can use a pink slip or rejection letter to shake us out of our complacency, asking us to rise up and seek Him in a deeper way.
God redeems difficulty and emotional deserts into gifts.
God often offers a gift in the difficulty
After teaching his disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11: 11-13).
When you’re laid off and cry out to God, He hears you. When a client unexpectedly cancels a big contract, God is with you. God is not vindictive or cruel, looking to offer you snakes and scorpions. He wants to bless you in the midst of trouble.
When Christian men face trouble, it’s rarely some kind of direct punishment for misdeeds. When Jonah was swallowed by the fish, that was God saving his life, not punishing him. Paul constantly refers to his imprisonment as a blessed opportunity to spread the gospel.
And maybe you did make a mistake that got you fired... God is a God of second chances!
Think of it this way. Our relationship with God is sometimes like a father who takes his son camping. The father might let his son wander off through the trees and feel lost to teach a lesson about finding directions. Or the father might let his son struggle to build a fire because he knows that is the most effective way to learn a new skill. By letting the son struggle, the father is actually giving him a gift.
Look for the gift in the difficulty. We’re not trying to give easy answers for personal pain, but if you’re working through a difficult career transition and don’t understand why, God might be:
· Moving you out of a stagnant career path into a career path of joy and passion
· Pushing you to learn a new professional skill
· Correcting unhealthy behaviors like anger or manipulation that flourished in your old position
· Asking you to reach out to others for support
· Providing an opportunity for self-reflection and self-knowledge
· Deepening your faith in Him to provide for your needs
Raise your standards for yourself
When unemployment hits, Christians sometimes say, “God is leading you from a good job to a better job.” While this might be true, don’t forget that God may be also changing you from a good man to a better man. Who you are as a person is much more important than who you are as an employee.
So, when you’re thrust into a new, uncertain job situation, maybe it’s time to step up. In fact, God is always drawing us toward Christlikeness. In Hebrews, we’re reminded that our faith is being perfected by Jesus. Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope.
But remember, perseverance doesn’t mean denying your emotions. Don’t put on a “stiff upper lip” and pretend everything is fine when it’s not. Grieve in the midst of loss. Cry out to God. Reach out to friends and your spouse for support.
Open yourself to God and his plan for your life and career. Be honest with yourself and with God. King David was called a man after God’s own heart, and throughout the Psalms we see him wrestling with his Creator. Yes, he had his faults, but he was open to God’s work and spirit.
God is fathering you every step of the way. You are his beloved son. When your job outlook seems uncertain, ask yourself, “How can I become the man God is calling me to be?”
God will answer.
Want to dive deeper into the Eight Rules of Engagement? Sign up to receive our free audio training given by our CEO Justin Janowski. Just enter your email on our home page signup form!
Before you click off this post, we have two qualifications.
One, your father might not have been the best man. He might have been absent for most of your life. He might have abused you. Because of this, you might have negative reactions toward the very idea of God fathering you. This is not something a blog post can address. We hope you reach out to trusted friends and counselors for support. That said, we hope you can lean into God’s redemptive fatherhood and slowly heal the wounds caused by your earthly father.
Two, we understand not all suffering can be explained by God’s fathering love. We’re not saying that severe illness, deep trauma, or the death of a loved one can be reduced to “God is teaching you a lesson.” We are also not equating a career setback with these traumas. We would like to avoid the mistake of Job’s friends who disregarded Job’s pain in an effort to explain away his situation.