From riches to rags and back again.
Steve Garrison, a thriving real-estate developer in California was at the top of the market. He tells his story in David Jeremiah’s book, “Bend in the Road.”
We were invincible, building, selling and profiting. Then the recession hit us like a sledgehammer. Construction was at a standstill, buildings sat half-finished, just like our careers. Boom times were over. I was left with nine new commercial and industrial buildings on my hands. Assets were tied up in the properties, cash reserves vanished like water-mirages on a desert highway. We cashed in our IRAs to meet our financial obligations. The last employees were released and our doors shut for the last time.
I found employment as a commercial real estate consultant. That lasted 6 months and I was unemployed again. All this happening within a year. My faith was tested. I had trusted God with my life and my family and all my prospects. I knew I had to keep trusting and obeying, hard times or not.
But I found myself in a spiritual desert, arid and dry. I began to see my walk with Him had gradually eroded during years of fruitfulness. God began to show me hard truths about myself. Reputation, esteem of colleagues and my net worth and assets had become pagan idols. I had been critical and impatient with my employees. God was “lovingly beating me up.” These were difficult lessons to learn but I sat at His feel and listened to His Word. In the midst of the discipline, I came to love him more than I had in the past – much more.
But there was still my livelihood to worry about. I stayed on the lookout for opportunities to make a new start in business life. In time God led me to launch my own real-estate consulting business, which is successful and my work life is just where God wants it to be.
These years have built my faith like nothing else could have done. I’ve learned the incredible power of praising God in the midst of adversity. I’ve discovered how to step back and look at my life and concerns from an eternal perspective, and it’s been wonderful to find many anxieties simply fade away when I do that.
Steve Garrison, a thriving real-estate developer in California was at the top of the market. He tells his story in David Jeremiah’s book, “Bend in the Road.”
We were invincible, building, selling and profiting. Then the recession hit us like a sledgehammer. Construction was at a standstill, buildings sat half-finished, just like our careers. Boom times were over. I was left with nine new commercial and industrial buildings on my hands. Assets were tied up in the properties, cash reserves vanished like water-mirages on a desert highway. We cashed in our IRAs to meet our financial obligations. The last employees were released and our doors shut for the last time.
I found employment as a commercial real estate consultant. That lasted 6 months and I was unemployed again. All this happening within a year. My faith was tested. I had trusted God with my life and my family and all my prospects. I knew I had to keep trusting and obeying, hard times or not.
But I found myself in a spiritual desert, arid and dry. I began to see my walk with Him had gradually eroded during years of fruitfulness. God began to show me hard truths about myself. Reputation, esteem of colleagues and my net worth and assets had become pagan idols. I had been critical and impatient with my employees. God was “lovingly beating me up.” These were difficult lessons to learn but I sat at His feel and listened to His Word. In the midst of the discipline, I came to love him more than I had in the past – much more.
But there was still my livelihood to worry about. I stayed on the lookout for opportunities to make a new start in business life. In time God led me to launch my own real-estate consulting business, which is successful and my work life is just where God wants it to be.
These years have built my faith like nothing else could have done. I’ve learned the incredible power of praising God in the midst of adversity. I’ve discovered how to step back and look at my life and concerns from an eternal perspective, and it’s been wonderful to find many anxieties simply fade away when I do that.
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