From Layoff to Lifeline: The Song That Carried Me

It was Sunday, February 24th, 2013.

I had been unceremoniously let go from a sales position I had thought I had room to grown into just 6 days earlier. With a two- and four-year-old kid at home, one part-time employed wife, and about $350 to our name, it was a rough week.

Being the part-time worship leader at my church, I had the duty to lead 6 songs that morning in the blue-floored elementary school gym. Problem: I had the cognitive ability to pick 5 songs, so we were going to have to do one of them twice.

We started the service with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” because I was clinging to the line “All I have needed Thy hand hath provided” like a stubborn toddler gripping his tattered stuffy.

I stood at the end of the service after the sermon and said “There are some weeks you just need to sing this twice.”

So through tears I backed away from the mic and let my church family sing it to me: words clumsily bouncing around in the gym’s notably less-than-ideal acoustics.

Today, I’m 18 days out from getting unceremoniously laid off from the best job I’ve ever had. Those two kids are now more than 6 feet tall, and have been joined by a third child— a curly-black-haired ball of creativity. My wife is again part-time employed, and things were already becoming financially tight before I was let go.

Cue the familiar moments of panic-laced hope.

This time, though, I’m also 6 days out from an accepted full-time job offer. “All I have needed,” indeed.

This morning at church I wasn’t leading the music. Our amazing worship director Audrey had no idea what she was about to do when she decided on a song to play (twice, once during each segment) during the Lord’s Supper.

As she started the opening notes there in a beautiful sanctuary, I was transported to a blue gym and choked back tears. She was going to play Great Is Thy Faithfulness.

Some weeks, you just need to sing it twice.