Why me?

If you're like me, you've probably had some points in your life when you just threw your hands up and said "Why me?  This is a very common refrain once we've reached our breaking point and just don't know what to do.  Let me ask you this.  Have you ever thought about this?  Why not you?   I believe that things happen, whether good or bad, to make us stonger.  My grandfather James used to say.  "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger."  I can agree with that statement.  Why not you?

I talked to a friend of mine on the phone recently.  This guy has been through it.  The economy has certainly beaten him down, as he would have you to believe.  He's coming up on his 29th month of being unemployed, or better yet underemployed, but is aggressively pursuing work.  So rather than engage in a pity party with him, because I have my own issues to confront. I just decided to unleash a firey EpiscoBaptist sermon loose on him.  I did let him get some things off his chest, shortly thereafter, I just took an opportunity and stood in my kitchen pulpit.  I told him:  Yeah it sucks that you don't have a job and I could not imagine myself being unemployed for 29 months.  Yeah, it sucks that you've been on eight interviews in a month with nothing positive to report, but you are not alone.  There are millions of Americans singing your same blues.  You have to look at this through two lenses.  (1.) I have no job, I can't get a job.  I give up.  (2.) You can say OMG, I have not worked in 29 months.  God has favored me and is still blessing me.  I still have housing, my car and I've even had health challenges along the way, but through it all, God is still good! 

I'm not sure what your situation is, but remember that there is someone out there worse off than you.  So the next time to you want to scream "Why me?"  Think about Why not me?  Your testimony could be indicative to someone how good and merciful God is, but you have to trust him.  In the middle of having lost everything, Job said (in reference to God) "Though he slay me yet will I trust him."  If you read the book of Job, you'll discover that in the end, once he was restored after praying for his friends, God blessed him with more that what he had initially.  Why not you?

Peace,
Karsten