Tag: Matthew 23:39

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6 Biblical Tips For Surviving Unemployment

Michele Kearns

These tips apply whether you are experiencing a short or extended transition period.

Tip #6    “…Love your neighbor as yourself.”  

Matthew 23:39

Just because you are in transition does not mean you are worthless like most of society would have you believe.  You are one of God’s children and that means you are loved by him. You are not worthless to him and I guarantee He has plans for you.

Now that you believe that about yourself, believe and act it towards others also in transition.

Tip #5     Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

Start an encouragement file/journal/notebook.  Share the quotes, poems, scripture, and articles you find with another unemployed person or two, or three, or four …etc.  Hold an encouragement party where people share what they find and then work on their files together.

Tip #4     Be joyful always

1st Thessalonians 5:16

This is the role of your gratitude journal as well as your encouragement file.  Keeping a gratitude journal will help you realize all that you have, which in turn helps keep you joyful.

Tip #3     Pray continually

1st Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer works.  Send up brief quick prayers as you go through your day, thanking God for even the littlest thing that lifts your spirit.  Do this in addition to your morning and evening prayers.

Tip #2     Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (emphasis added)

1st Thessalonians 5:18

Realize that as bad as you have it, there are people out there who have it worse than you.  Give thanks for the blessings He bestows upon you every day.

The blessings are there, you just need to look for them.

The #1 Tip  

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

 Surviving unemployment starts while you are employed, whether you are a worker, lower management, mid management or C-level. 

  • Your position can be eliminated at any second.
  • You could find yourself in transition at any given moment.
  •  The company you work for can be bought out or go bankrupt anytime.

If you were to be become part of what society deems “The Untouchables”, you would want to be treated with dignity and respect.  You would want help finding a new position.

So treat those who are in transition the way you would want to be treated:

  • Don’t eliminate someone because they have 15, 20, 25 or more years of work experience.  Don’t eliminate a potential new hire just because they are your customer.
  • Do offer to meet someone for coffee to learn about them, give them advice and pass their resume on to a hiring manager you know.
  • Do offer support and encouragement when you find out someone is out of a job.
  • Do offer to speak at job seeker meetings about your particular area of expertise.
  • Be willing to train a person whose experience is similar to the position you have available.
  • Respect people who have learned new skills while seeking a new job, whether they have taken advanced courses in Word, Excel, Access or Powerpoint, or maybe they have dove head first into blogging and gaining a deeper understand of using Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook for business. If they have a deeper understanding of social media, hire them.  Every business needs social media people now-a-days.

Final Thought

Though you mourn your situation and are poor in spirit, you will be blessed by God in His own way and according to His time.

You fit into God’s overall plan and His plan is perfect.

 

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What Christianity Means To Me

Michele Kearns

I have felt the need to do a couple of posts about Christianity.  Today I will start with what it means to me and tomorrow will be about what Christians should and should not do regarding converting others.

Christianity means:

  • Following Jesus’s teachings.
    • “…Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Matthew 23:39
    • “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
    • “ But l you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good t those who hate you, bless those who curse your, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28
    • “For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16 – 17 (NIV)                Etc.

  • Accepting that Jesus took my place on the cross.
  • Developing and maintaining a relationship with Jesus and God through prayer, worship & Bible Study.
  • Living a life of service out of gratitude for what he did for me.  Some examples include, this blog, Co-Facilitating a Griefshare group, being part of the prayer ministry group, and doing my best to live a life that when I reach heaven I will hear him say:  “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23)

Perfection

Christians are people who believe and follow Jesus’s teachings however, we are not perfect.  We are sinners.  Jesus was the only perfect human to walk the face of the earth.  We strive to be perfect but fall short.  When we do, we ask for forgiveness and hopefully do not make the same mistake twice.

A Christian achieves perfection only when he/she moves to heaven. 

40 Days of Joy

My 3 Words + 1

Michele Kearns

I read Chris Brogan’s blog and once he mentioned the 3 word challenge, I started thinking about my three words.  I could only think of one:

 Streamline

  •  Job Search – I already started on the streamlining the job search about 3 or 4 weeks ago.  My philosophy was a “leave no stone unturned” approach.  Heck, even the outplacement company I worked with had people getting quality jobs through newspaper ads.  While I came close to getting jobs with that approach, I have decided to abandon it.  So bye-bye:
    • Monster,
    • Careerbuilder,
    • Careerboard,
    • Simply Hired,
    • Indeed

I will stick with LinkedIn, LinkUp and Networking.

  • Email Streamlining – The email’s I receive from different sites has also been cleaned up. 
  • House Streamlining – Little by little this house is being streamlined.  It must be done as Joe was and I am a pack rat.
  • Spiritual Streamlining – Reading daily devotions, grief books, and leadership books.   
  • Physical Streamlining  – Exercising more and exploring different types of exercises.

That’s 2012 in one word.

Now for 2012 Chris Brogan Style (3 Words)

Joy. Pray. Give.

Joy

Be more joyful, smile more, do not let circumstances dictate my mood, and find more people, places, events and things enjoy.  Let my joy be evident when people see me, let joy show through this blog, let joy show in my new job. Use Black and Blue beads to help me see joy. 

Pray

Pray about everything and not just in the morning or at bedtime.  Send up prayers throughout the day, that means prayers of help and thanksgiving. Use a journal to keep track of my prayers. 

Give

Give of myself and finances. Now this does not mean I have an endless supply of money to dish out to people.  The finances are for regular tithing, even though I do not have a lot what I have to give is mighty and powerful.

My time refers to my volunteer work which also was streamlined year so the focus can be finding a job.

Not How But Where

How did I decide on these three words?  The question should be where did I find these 3 words?  The answer is:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Be, Pray, and Give require doing.  Doing these will help me live out the philosophy of this blog:

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

“…Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 23:39

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

Quote:

“Joy is perfect acquiescence in God’s will because the soul delights in God Himself.”

H.W. Webb-Peploe

The End

This post marks the end of “40 Days of Joy” (which was extended one day because I ran the same video on 12/24 and 12/25).  Hopefully this series brought you some joy this past holiday season.  I know everyone’s circumstances are different but hopefully this series brought some joy to you. 

Thank you for following my blog and may you have a joy filled 2012.

(Not sure why there is a font issue again today.)