Psalm 37 is awesome!

Posted by Granny Girl

I went through a rough patch recently.  Things at work got really, really hard.  I’ve always worked as an admin in commercial real estate companies.  That’s where God planted me, so that’s where I bloomed.  I was hired at my most recent job in January 2008.   Shortly after that the economy went south and the company started laying off administrative assistants.  I became the lone surviving admin in the Dallas office, and after a couple of years was transferred to the company’s corporate office in Fort Worth.  I was then the only admin for the brokerage department for both the Dallas and Fort Worth offices. 

The ladies and gentlemen I worked with were wonderful.  As in most real estate companies, agents came and went, but the core group of them were phenomenal people.  The company itself didn’t function so well.  The president/owner of the company was a difficult man.  He could pass me in the hall several times a day and not acknowledge me.  That was fine.  He was exceptionally friendly to any woman there who was well endowed or young and pretty and completely ignore any female over the age of forty, even though he was over sixty. While that was icky, it worked for me because it meant I didn’t have to deal with him.  But the one thing I just couldn’t bear was the way he belittled all things sacred.   I prayed for protection because I just knew God was going to smite him.  (I was kinda hoping for a lightning bolt.)

A couple of months ago I made a mistake on a leasing report.  It was a minor thing, but it caught the president’s attention.  I was called in for a review and was told my job was on shaky ground.  I knew that intimidation was his modus operandi, so I didn’t worry too much about it. 

Recently, a new President of Brokerage Services was hired to oversee my department.  I could tell from her comments that she had been filled in by the owner about what an “inept” admin I was, and that she had been told to keep a close eye on me and micro manage my work.  When someone has decided that your work is not good they are not going to see any of the good work you do.  No matter what I did, it was wrong.  The whole atmosphere in our department became strained.  This micro management style didn’t go over well with anyone and the agents started working with their office doors closed.   It was hard.  My stomach began to hurt every day and my adrenaline was so elevated I had to cut back on caffeine.  The tension was making me sick.

Then I came across Psalm 37.  It was God speaking to me exactly what I needed to hear.  After one particularly bad meeting in which I was loudly interrupted repeatedly and accused of wanting to start a fight, the Lord gave me this verse which I printed and laminated and kept under my keyboard:

Psa 37:12-13

The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.

The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming.

And when I would catch myself tensing up as I turned onto the street where the office was located, I would quote to myself:

Psa: 37:7-8

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret – it only causes harm.

When I was called in for the final meeting in which I knew I would be fired (the Human Resources Director only comes to the Fort Worth office on a Wednesday if someone is going to be fired!), the peace of God that passes all understanding filled me.   I was being delivered!  The company gave me a severance package and my unemployment benefits have begun.  Psalm 37 told me it would be okay:

Verses 25-26

I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his descendants begging bread. 

He is ever merciful, and lends;

And his descendants are blessed.

As soon as I sent out the “goodbye” email to all personnel, I started receiving hugs, calls, texts and notes from my co-workers.  God was affirming my time there and His graciousness in allowing it to end well.

Psalm 37 is still my daily reading.  Now I will

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Psa. 37:3-4