A year ago today, I had a rug pulled out from under me. Devastating is too mild a word to describe how I felt, but it will suffice 365 days later. I became a ministerial statistic when I was informed a majority of the deacons in the church I pastored at the time voted to ask me to resign. I had heard of that happening to others, in fact several colleagues and friends from the same area had recently experienced the same fate, but I never dreamed it would happen to me.

As I left the office to go home and break the news to my wife, several questions occupied my mind. Is this the end for me? Is ministry over for me? What will my wife think? How will my daughter handle this and will she consider her dad an utter failure? How do I tell both of them the news? What do I do now? I must say, my wife and daughter handled the situation better than I did.

I share this a year later in hopes that I can be an encouragement to others who have been dealt a cruel, seemingly irreparable blow by circumstances. I want to share a few of the most important lessons I have learned through all of this.

• God never wastes pain
• My family is God’s greatest gift to me
• I am not defined by what I do, but Whose I am
• Forgiveness is never complete
• God is not finished with you

If life has dealt you a crushing blow and if you are hurting more than you realized your heart could hurt, you need to know that God sees, God knows, and God is working. Hold on just a little longer and gain encouragement from Him.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28