Fired, Part 2
In August 2001, I was fired. I had been ...
Fired, Part 2
In August 2001, I was fired. I had been at the job for two months, and I was miserable. But, I was the single mother of two children, and I had a new home under construction. I couldn’t quit. After learning that my services were no longer required, I told the executive director that I would need time to prepare detailed notes for all of my cases so that the next attorney would know where to begin. For the next hour, I told myself not to cry. I tried to focus on leaving my workload in good condition. Once I completed my final tasks and headed to the parking lot, I felt tremendous relief. I no longer needed to cry. I had no idea what I would do about finding a job.
For the next few days, I took the children to school as usual. When I returned home, I spent time with God and asked Him what to do. I felt in my spirit that it was time to open my own practice. Although I had dabbled in home-based businesses, I had never relied on self-employment for my primary income. The more I prayed and listened for God’s guidance, the more convinced I was that it was time to start my practice. Less than a week after I was fired, I had signed a lease for office space to open a one-woman law practice. Between savings and credit cards, my family managed until the business started turning a profit after four months. Within 12 months, I had matched the salary I was earning when I was fired.
My being fired was the best thing that has ever happened to me on a professional level. I had to trust God, and I had to trust myself. I never would have had the courage to quit a job and open a law practice. But faced with the possibility of months of unemployment, it was easy to put my confidence in God and to believe in myself.
That period, and the years of owning that business taught me many lessons:
1. Even if I make a mistake, God is with me;
2. The Lord allows the most negative of events to work out for my good;
3. Being fired is ending a relationship that isn’t working; once you look at it through that lens, it’s just not that bad;
Have you ever been fired? What did you learn about yourself?
