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In Reply to: Selfworth posted by Lyle on April 11, 2003 at 08:17:30:
I don't have a big house and fancy cars but I think there is something to be said for living about a hand-to-mouth existence. Most of us, it seems, have to really scramble for first year or first few years we're out. What we sometimes don't remember is that so-called "living by faith" meant living hand to mouth but the only thing there is that we knew the ropes of how to beg for things, how to get big prices for cheap goods (tapes, lit, etc.) and so we felt we had a comfort zone even if it was precarious. But at least there was the feeling that we were in "God's perfect will" so He would take care of us.
But coming out after however many years and realizing that we were NOT in God's perfect will and that obviously we cannot command Him like a genii and tell him to provide everything we want is a wake up call. Then, like the rest of the working world, we need to realize the value of hard work to put food on the table. I think most of us have had to go through the stage finding that we had few marketable skills and had to take low-income jobs just to feed ourselves and our families.
The key is not only to uncover the Family-suppressed gifts but to find professions that pay well enough to rise up out of the poverty zone. This is not always easy, but it is do-able. It just takes lots of perseverance and being unwilling to accept that the way things are is the way they need to stay. My hat's off to every exmember who had the willpower to push and push till they made a better life for themselves and their families, or who went back to skill, upgraded, etc.
