This week’s blog is an excerpt from my book, How Long, O Lord, How Long? Devotions for the Unemployed and Those Who Love Them. Today there are more people unemployed or losing than you realize. There have been thousands recently impacted in the Federal workforce. This blog highlights something that anyone who is unemployed struggles to do but needs to do. Please share.

YOU RECENTLY LEARNED YOU no longer have a job. Now what do you do? A normal first reaction is to keep quiet, telling only your family and perhaps a few close friends. People are often embarrassed when losing a job, but when you think about it, it’s odd to feel this way. After all, you didn’t do anything; it just happened. I imagine it feels like getting cut from a sports team or not getting that part in the school play. You feel like a failure and most of us don’t want to spread the news that we’re a failure. But think about it for a moment. Good can come from telling others.

The greatest challenge you face right now is finding a new job. People need to know that you’re out there looking, and I don’t just mean the people where you apply for a job. I’ve found that people want to help, and that they like to help. But they can’t help if they don’t know.

A good friend told me a story about a baseball manager who had been fired. He didn’t tell many people or reach out to his friends and it took him a long time to find a new job. As often happens in baseball, he got fired again. This time he threw a big party, inviting lots of friends and associates. He wanted the world to know that he was available. Guess what? He found a job much more quickly.

If you haven’t already done so, create a message letting others know you are out of work and on a job search. Invite their prayers and their assistance. Send it to as many people as possible, whether you think they’re connected and can help you find a job or not. I’m confident that two things will come from getting the word out. First, you’ll receive many responses, calls or cards affirming you as a person and offering to help. Second, people will pray, and you’ll need all the prayers you can get on this journey.

In Mark 16:15 we find Jesus urging his disciples to proclaim the Gospel: [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

 In Matthew 28:19-20 we read, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Jesus knew that people could not be saved if they didn’t know the Gospel. His commandment was to “tell the world”; it wasn’t to “keep silent.” While the proclamation of the Gospel exceeds my need to let others know I’m seeking a job, the principle is the same. People won’t know if you don’t tell them.

Don’t wait.