Faith vs. Stress

So Jared quit his job last Wednesday.  He couldn't do it anymore.  He was brought on with promises that unraveled in the last couple months and a series of events and lack of events led him to the very clear conclusion that things were not as they should be - nothing illegal exactly, but plenty of stuff that couldn't be called ethical.  As he saw more of what was going on and tried to fix things, he was increasingly marginalized to the point that it was miserable.  He had to leave.

So we left our beautiful home and all our good friends and so many things we loved in St George and moved to a city we never would have thought of moving to if it weren't for a job that promised to be fabulous (the job had proved to be quite wonderful for several months before we committed to the move so it really seemed like it would be the right thing for Jared...).  And now that job is gone.

We've got 5 kids.  Our savings aren't in stellar shape after some unemployment last year then making the move to Ogden and putting a chunk of money into a new house that we felt so strongly we were meant to buy.  We could be confused and sad and frustrated and scared.  But you know what?  We're feeling really peaceful and good about things for the most part.  It's going to be OK.  We can see the beginnings of new paths opening up and we're choosing to look for the good in this situation - and there's plenty of good to find.

Ogden feels right - totally right for us right now in our lives.  We're both seeing many reasons why we needed to move here - the job was just the bait to get us where we needed to be, I guess. Jared has quite a few connections and prospects here - way more than in St George where the business climate is pretty dead right now.  And he's currently working like crazy on our new Power of Moms website which should launch in a few days here (he was working on it several hours a day before he quit his job but now he's working on it like 12 hours a day and the timing to have more help from him couldn't be better).

As someone once wisely said, "change and surprises are the only things you can really plan on in life."  And as someone very wisely said in Sunday School last week, "stress can be defined a lack of faith."  I can't change the unfortunate circumstances that other people's choices create in my life.  I can't control what tomorrow may bring.  But I can choose to find the good in the hard stuff and I can choose faith over stress - at least on good days!

And the recent disaster in Japan has made me realize once again that our own little upheavals over the last year are nothing compared to what tons of people go through.