Grief & Loss
I lost my job and with it my sense of identity and purpose. How do I rebuild?
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
These words were written in the rubble of Jerusalem: the city had been destroyed and the people felt their entire world had ended. The writer does not pretend otherwise. But in the middle of the devastation, he holds onto one thing: God's mercy does not expire. New mornings mean new mercies, not recycled ones.
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Paul's contentment was not natural to him; he says he learned it. Learning implies repeated experience, failure, and practice. He wrote this from prison, without a job or status or freedom. His peace was not the product of good circumstances but of a deepened trust that his identity was held somewhere external circumstances could not reach.
A path forward
Separate identity from role: write down five things that are true about you that have nothing to do with your job title. Read them every morning this week.
Establish a structure for your week immediately: get up at a consistent time, create blocks for job searching, learning, and exercise. The loss of a job also removes a scaffolding that kept you organized, and replacing it matters for mental health.
Tell people in your network honestly what happened and what you are looking for. The instinct to hide job loss from shame costs you the connections most likely to help you.
Closing verse
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
- Psalm 37:23-24
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