Category: Crisis

Can You Be Thankful for Tough Times?

Can You Be Thankful for Tough Times?

A common question during Thanksgiving is, “What are you thankful for today?” I would have to say I am thankful for the people who have come into my life, even for a brief time, to say something significant to me. It is so good to be able to revisit those monumental moments. I am, of course, grateful for the family and friends who have walked with me through many difficult, life-building experiences. In fact, I have come to realize that I am even thankful for those who have been a source of pain in my life and may have helped create some of those difficult experiences. All of them have shaped me into the person that I am today.

I remember one challenging season during my Bible College years (1982-1986) when I was desperate, ready to quit and do something else, rather than do what my heart truly desired. Thankfully, a pastor prayed with me and said I would be a “David and a Gideon.” It’s quite interesting that both of these men felt pretty insignificant (both were considered the least in their families). In May 2019, I was fortunate enough to meet that pastor again and thanked him for his words to me so many years earlier; those significant words that continued to resonate with me through some of the toughest times in my life.

As a young pastor just starting out in my career, I felt rejected by the denomination that I grew up in and where I had trained to be a minister. I was filled with questions and no answers, disappointed because life was not supposed to be this way. That’s when the Lord provided an opportunity for me to enter the financial services industry (1991). I felt this was just a temporary move until the Lord would open another door of ministry for me; after all, God had called me to “preach the word.” I am thankful for the tough times and for those who have rejected me, because without them, I would have never made the decisions I did.

I’m grateful for my wife who documented our journey together these past 34 years (on Oct. 25th this year). She wrote these words that another pastor shared on Sept. 20, 1992, “An open door is coming for Lorne, but he’s not yet ready for it. There will be some frustrating and trying times but we are to look at it as preparation time. We are to cleave to one another and look back at this night.”

Nine years later, I heard these words (Nov. 25, 2001): “Lorne will travel Canada and his ministry will be endorsed so strongly that people won’t be able to question it.” I’m grateful for closed doors because only God knows when and which doors should open. Trusting that God will do this is most difficult in your dark times.

One of my darkest periods was in 2008 after I had run in the Federal Election (and lost), plus the stock market had crashed. I was striving to open doors and get away from this pressure but despite my knocking, the only door that opened meant continuing in the financial services industry. I recall speaking with a counsellor during this period and she said, “You are suffering from rejection.”

I concealed my pain as much as possible but I was hurting in a way I felt no one else could comprehend. I’m grateful that Cathy was so understanding and allowed me to process, yet, pray me through this period. It was during this time that I began studying the topic of biblical financial stewardship in a book by Randy Alcorn, called “Money, Possessions and Eternity.” I am so thankful for men like Randy, Larry Burkett and Ron Blue whose writings have helped transformed my life and have given me much more of an eternal perspective in so many areas.

I’m so thankful that God’s ways are higher than my ways. What I thought was a temporary career in financial planning has turned out to be the work He had prepared in advance for me to do (see Eph. 2:10). I am grateful for the years I spent creating strong relationships with amazing clients who shared things with me that they would never share with a pastor. I was able to guide them financially and personally. Those years actually prepared me to become the National Director of Kingdom Advisors, a ministry to financial professionals to whom I can easily relate because of my own experience in the industry. It’s ironic that when I was asked to consider this role in 2013, my immediate response (without even thinking) was, “I feel like David out in the field shepherding the sheep (my clients), while so many others are more qualified.” It wasn’t until further reflection that I realized those words that the pastor shared with me in college were very true 35 years later.

The fact is when things don’t go according to our plans, we need to be thankful and willing to trust that things are going according to His plan for us. God can use any circumstance or people! It can appear to be anything but good at the time. Even if meant for evil, God works for our good and conforms us to His image (See Genesis 50:20). Are you facing tough circumstances and/or difficult people? Be assured that behind the scenes, God is using these situations and people to help transform you.

Five Years Free!

Five Years Free!

As I awoke this morning, I thought about where I was 5 years ago on this day, Friday, July 24, 2015. Looking back, I realize that was a year of significant change. I had just stepped away from a 24-year career as a financial planner and was about to leave the province where I was born and had lived in for half a century! What would this next chapter look like?

What most people did not know at this time is that I had a lump on my left shoulder that just would not go away. After a few visits to the doctor, a biopsy, an MRI and CAT scan, I was simply told, “This has to be removed.” I quickly realized I would never be able to pronounce or even remember the term for Cathy, so I asked my doctor if I could take a picture of it. Once home, I explained that I needed surgery and Cathy googled the term: dermatofibrosacoma protuberans –  a rare type of skin cancer!

SURGERY
When the bandage was removed just days after surgery, this is what we saw.

How could this be? Just at a time of leaving my place of security at my work and now this. On this day 5 years ago, I found myself lying face down on an operating table with nurses all around me when the surgeon entered the operating room. I had seen him just a few minutes earlier when he had described the procedure and drew marks on my shoulder where he was going to cut me open. He said, “This is called a ‘Keystone flap‘.” For those who wish to see how this is done, watch the surgery  to get a better understanding (including the drawing that I was obviously unable to see at the time). Thankfully, no chemo or radiation was necessary.  The medical professionals who have looked at my shoulder since then have always commented on the admirable job by my surgeon in Newfoundland.  It helps me wear my scar proudly!

Interesting side note: the church that I co-pastored for 14 years was called Keystone Assembly of God (the years when I also started in my career as a financial advisor). Those years were not easy but now, I have a Keystone carved into my shoulder. It’s almost like the Lord was saying, “Those years were foundational in building your character and preparing you for the future; I’m placing this permanently on your back but at the same time something is being removed.  I’m stretching you so you will trust me more.”

In the past 5 years, my faith in God has definitely been stretched and growing. I never dreamed that regular visits to the Ottawa Cancer Centre and other hospitals would become part of my yearly routine, without “costing me an arm and a leg.” (pun intended) I also never dreamed I would become connected with hundreds of financial professionals, many of whose lives are being transformed through the ministry I’m involved with. The journey has been well worth it, my friends, and I’m happy to be CANCER-FREE today for five years!!

Don’t Waste This Crisis

Don’t Waste This Crisis

In his weekly commentary released on March 23, 2020, Senior Portfolio Manager, Chief Equity Strategist, Bob Doll states:

We think stocks remain in a bottoming process. Bottoming is a process, not an event, meaning this could take some time.

040AA012-968C-4160-8133-80F29B0E61E6
blog.afraidto trade.com

As a financial advisor in 2008, I, too, experienced the painful process of the market bottoming out. It seemed like the drop in the market was also reflective of my life. In the months (even years) leading up to 2008, I was struggling to understand my purpose and God’s call on my life. That fall, I was asked to put my name forward in the Federal General Election and despite my slim odds of winning, I became a candidate. (The steepest drop on the chart highlighted in yellow represents the bail-out vote failure and also the time period that I was campaigning). My political career was short! After the loss on election night, I was back to facing the reality of significant financial loss in clients’ portfolios and the stress of a more difficult work situation. My emotions paralleled the chart of the stock market crash at that time.

 

This time of crisis caused me to question everything. Through a deep time of soul searching, I began to see what was previously hidden to me. I had imagined my work only to be God’s provision when in fact, it was God’s providence in a much deeper way than I had realized. He had always been part of my life but I had not made Him part of my practice. Through this process of bottoming, my practice became more than just a job; this was a mission, a fulfillment of God’s purpose for me. I was walking with clients through some of the most difficult times in their lives.  I was able to bring focus and provide a perspective that they needed in this financial storm. My life wasn’t to be a search to find God’s call but rather a living out of that call where God had already placed me – in a financial planning career!

There is a spiritual purpose when crisis happens.  I had to run to God, and nowhere else, as a refuge during my ‘perfect storm” of 2008.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected. The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; in his imagination it is like a high wall (Proverbs 18:10-11 CSB).

This proverb reveals that the greatest risk of wealth is “spiritual risk.” Most believe the greatest risk is the potential loss in value from our investment choices; that’s investment risk. However, the spiritual risk of trusting the security of money rather than seeing the Lord as our strong fortress is dangerous. We can begin to trust it more than God. Oftentimes, we imagine money to provide more security than is possible. Crisis has a way of refocusing us like nothing else.

Coronavirus is invisible, yet, we see the effects of it in our world today. What if the purpose of this crisis is to cause us to spiritually see the invisible? Dr. Tony Evans said, “If all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen.”

Maybe a pandemic and economic crisis is meant to open our eyes to the invisible.  Wisdom teaches that instead of imagining money and even our jobs, as our security, we should run to the only true refuge; the name of the Lord.  We must allow the invisible to affect us, especially in crisis. Don’t let this crisis go to waste. If we come through this and are able to see what was previously hidden, then this crisis has an eye-opening, spiritual purpose.

How are you feeling in the midst of this storm? How will you use this crisis ?