That was the opening of a communication saying that approval was granted for the purchase of some items.
I have been receiving counseling on my job search from a non-profit organization. The team also identifies support needed to make a person more successful in their effort to gain employment.
My counselor recommended getting a fidget spinner ring to help with anxiety during interviews. I have struggled with anxiety for years. At times, it presents itself through uncontrollable movements and tremors during unfamiliar or stressful situations.
I had previously worn a signet spinner ring since 2017. That is when I purchased one with the Serenity Prayer inscribed on it.
“God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
The ring had significant meaning to my recovery and life.
Four years ago, I lost the ring. Robbers abducted me. The thieves harmed me and took all that I had: clothes, cellphone, computer, wallet, gifts my children had given me, photographs, and mementos. One of the last things they did was take that signet ring straight from my finger.
God continues to bring healing in many ways from that traumatic incident – through prayer, counseling and helping others.
One of the experiences I am gaining at Serenity Street is learning to trust God and to trust the process. In our addiction, our own behaviors often cause us to lose things that are important to us: careers, wealth, friends, and even relations with family members whom we love yet hurt. And sometimes, as with the ring, things are taken from us.
But God. Yet God restores. I am learning in recovery that when we lose things, it is God who heals and restores as we surrender. And God does that in God’s perfect timing.
This is the heart of God’s promise to us in the Old Testament passage from the book of Joel:
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten….
You will have plenty to eat until you are full,
And you will praise the name of the Lord your God who has worked wonders for you.
Never again will my people be shamed.” – Joel 2:25-26 NIV
Now, I again wear a signet ring with the Serenity Prayer inscribed on it. This one has a more special reminder. When I see the ring, I think of how God used people through a job counseling organization to restore things in my life and heart. Not just a ring. But the confidence to walk out God’s purposes for my life. And a lifting of shame that hung over me since that traumatic incident.
And I am forever grateful to God, the Serenity Street team, counselors, sponsors, and many others who God has used to restore. In God’s timing and perfect plan.
