Unemployment: hope in the midst of devastation

Published with permission by Ryan Schwoebel. He and his wife Julie and son Clayton are OMC members who recently experienced unemployment, and experienced God’s grace in the midst of it. See the end of the post for more information on unemployment support and pastoral counseling through Oak Mountain Church.

I spent nearly a decade working in law enforcement, having worked as a police officer, deputy sheriff, crime scene investigator, and federal agent.  After leaving a lucrative federal job last fall to join a local police force in the Birmingham area closer to family, I was laid off suddenly in May of this year without a back-up means to provide for my family. 

As my wife and I scurried to seek any employment opportunities available to pay our mortgage, acquire health insurance and put food on our table, we also decided to seek solace in a church we had frequently visited (Oak Mountain Church).  My wife's parents were members, and ultimately we decided to become members ourselves. 

While working through our unemployment period, I joined OMC's unemployment support group.  The leader of the group helped me spiritually and emotionally to work through seeing my layoff as a personal failure to my family and myself, and to focus on the blessings I still had (my health, my family's health, family and loved ones living nearby, etc.).  God used that leader to pull me out of the pit of my own despair and realize that God had –for reasons I may not understand yet—called me away from that job to be somewhere else. 

Also during this time I began meeting with OMC’s Pastor for Shepherding, who is also a former law enforcement officer, allowing him to relate to my situation and understand it better than many others. Sharing a professional background was a small way that God reminded me of His perfect plans.

One Sunday in worship, the weekly announcements showed a video about how to become involved with the youth ministry, and I felt led to do so.  The problem was that I was currently working a restaurant management job that had me working 13+ hours a day, six days a week, typically including Sundays (although in God’s providence, I had the Sunday off when they showed the video). I began praying that God would lead me to a job where I could have Sundays off so that I could help with the youth and worship with my family.

In late August, God answered that prayer. I started working for a local private college managing their criminal justice degree programs—a job that not only allowed me to have weekends off, but also to make a salary slightly better than the one I had with the police department that laid me off.  Today I teach junior high boys Sunday school, a rewarding ministry that I feel blessed to be a part of, and my wife has found a source of additional income for our family helping with the church's nursery. 

While the personal devastation felt from an unexpected job loss is tremendous—a sense of spiritual, emotional and financial neutering—the love and guidance offered from the Lord through the OMC community helped us have hope in the midst of such devastation.  Looking back, we are in a much better place than we were and have so many personal experiences of God's blessings and work through His people, the body of Christ.

For more information on OMC’s unemployment support group, please contact Mike Williams at mkwmszoo@gmail.com.  For more information about pastoral counseling through OMC, please contact Julie Sparkman at 205.981.4333