{"id":286,"date":"2014-02-27T22:42:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T22:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=286"},"modified":"2014-08-12T21:59:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T21:59:37","slug":"job-loss-isolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/job-loss-isolation\/","title":{"rendered":"Job Loss Isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"

When tested by Myers Briggs, I found myself as an ENFJ, not an INFP.\u00a0 Perhaps this is why Isolation<\/em> by Shelly Trebesch didn\u2019t move me or inspire me as other readings have. It\u2019s not that I haven\u2019t tried to think as she suggests, and I do understand the value.\u00a0 Some parts of the reading actually resonated with me \u2013 in which I\u2019ll share shortly \u2013 but overall, my time in Isolation<\/em> although necessary, seemed long, with only slight benefit.<\/p>\n

The premise of the book is that God uses isolation experiences to accomplish things through us that we would never accomplish apart from the isolation practices (p.8).\u00a0 That\u2019s true.\u00a0 I definitely believe that all experiences are profitable, especially when we recognize the possibility of God\u2019s working in and through those times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I also trust that times of isolation propel us to shifts of paradigm and greater dependency on God.\u00a0 Examples are abundant in the Old Testament and New Testament where we see; God guiding, testing, allowing choices and decisions to be made – for or against God, times of preparation and times of reflection.\u00a0 These themes help to strip away our identity, allowing a new identity \u2013 which is stronger and resilient to emerge.<\/p>\n

Of the two types of isolation, I\u2019ve seldom voluntarily entered into a time of trying like Trebesch outlines but there have been instances of involuntary isolation.\u00a0 Probably the most meaningful was when I lost my job.<\/p>\n

I had been employed as the International Market Manager for GREGORY, Inc.\u00a0 Handpicked by the owner\u2019s son, I held a prestigious position in which I could do little wrong.\u00a0 My boss loved me and we saw incredible growth because of his desire to take the company international.\u00a0 But after 7 years, there was a falling out within the family as the father, upon retirement, bequeathed the presidential position to the other brother. My boss, took his portion of the company and moved to another city, opening up a small business on his own.\u00a0 As new bosses were moved in and a philosophy that wasn\u2019t as focused on international emerged, I was as joseph in the Bible \u2013 the employee the new Pharaoh didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

As I was laid off in a restructuring, I passed through the fourfold process expressed in the book (p.35).<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The stripping took place as I lost my new boss\u2019s admiration and exclusionary treatment that I had received from my friend.\u00a0 From security to insecurity.\u00a0 I struggled with the emotional pain of doubting my value and if I could be employable in the future.<\/li>\n
  2. I wrestled with God, trying to understand the injustice of it all, all the while becoming more intimate with Jesus.\u00a0 I questions who I was.\u00a0 I questioned if my future was to be in the secular or religious fields.\u00a0 I was frightened at the possibility of not being able to support my family, though through it all, found comfort in Jesus Christ.<\/li>\n
  3. I recognized I couldn\u2019t do it by myself and finally came to a peace, understanding that God would walk through this with me.\u00a0 That was followed by a greater sense of vulnerability as I accepted His presence in my life.<\/li>\n
  4. Finally, I was able to release the past (at least partially \u2013 I still struggle with some of these issues as I\u2019m no saint!) and see God as faithful and trustworthy for what was to happen in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In summary: although I\u2019m not one who keeps a Day-Timer completely filled out or who follows the Outlook calendar precisely, and although I prefer action and activism rather than contemplation and meditation, and although I believe we sometimes make too much out of the spreadsheets, charts, schedules and step-by-step plans for spiritual growth \u2013 I do have to agree that isolation does bring growth and transition and transformation.<\/p>\n

    It will happen whether we like it or not.\u00a0 Isolation experience will occur whether planned or not. Therefore when they transpire, let\u2019s embrace what God can do through them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When tested by Myers Briggs, I found myself as an ENFJ, not an INFP.\u00a0 Perhaps this is why Isolation by Shelly Trebesch didn\u2019t move me or inspire me as other readings have. It\u2019s not that I haven\u2019t tried to think as she suggests, and I do understand the value.\u00a0 Some parts of the reading actually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,119,120,116],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-isolation","tag-spirituality","tag-trebesch","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}