Several years ago, after for 15 years as a manager in an insurance company, I found myself as one of the unemployed in America. It was not something I thought would ever happen to me. The company I worked for decided that it would no longer be cost effective to continue doing business in the state of Massachusetts, so they closed the doors to their offices, and more than 600 individuals were affected by their decision. Shortly after the layoff, the economy began to spiral downward and things seemed out of control. The unemployment line got longer and longer.

Frustration mounted day after day as I searched, interviewed, and got rejected, searched, interviewed, and got rejected again. The fact that I had so much experience was a challenge because companies were looking for people they could hire at entry-level pay. “I could be that person,” I thought. I just wanted a job. No, I needed a job. Unfortunately, in the midst of the search for employment, my family suffered another blow that left our home in turmoil. As a result of the layoff, we went from a two-income, three-person family to a one-income, three-person family. Very soon after that, I found myself in a no-income, two-person family with a mortgage and bills to pay, a young child to feed, and more. Murphy’s law found full expression in my life and everything was going wrong.

I eventually found employment, or I should say employment found me, 998 days later! The good news is that during those 998 days, even with little or no money coming in, no bill ever went unpaid. In 1993, two years and about nine months after I was laid off, I finally began working again. This time the Lord led me to work in His cause at the Atlantic Union Conference office.

One of the secrets I found to making it through that difficult time was that I had to believe what I could not see. That is not an easy thing to do. In Hebrews 11:1 (MSG) it says, “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.” I believed I would get a job even though I could not see where it was coming from or when it would happen. I also did my part because I knew that just sitting and believing was not going to get me the job.

As I look around at what is going on in the world today, I see that there may be a few challenges ahead that will affect us all. The United States and the world seem to be in an economic free fall. The nation’s debt is spoken of in terms of trillions of dollars. The unemployment rate is hovering around 8.6 percent. The medical world is suggesting that we do less hugging, kissing, and shaking hands until they can get the H1N1 influenza virus under control. Millions of Americans are losing money in their retirement portfolio, due to the unstable stock market. Chances are, your household has already been impacted one way or another and you may be trying to figure out what to do.

In the midst of our challenges we should keep in mind that our choices, thoughts, and actions help to determine the outcome of many of the situations in which we find ourselves. If we want to “keep our head above water,” we must believe. A very good friend reminded me that Job, who found himself in a painfully tragic situation, losing everything he had, chose to believe and rise above His circumstances. In the end, God blessed him with more than he had before. He believed and remained faithful.

Hard times are here for some, and may yet get harder for others, but the important thing is to make sure that our feet are planted firmly on the “Rock,” Christ Jesus. He said in Matthew 6:30-34 (NKJV), “Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”. . . For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” Remember that it has been well stated, “Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

So, don’t worry about tomorrow, because even though we don’t know what the future holds, we know God holds the future. Be a blessing to as many people as you can today. Your blessing will come, sometime, somewhere.

Ednor A. P. Davison is the editor of the Atlantic Union Gleaner and assistant to the president for communication in the Atlantic Union Conference.