I know firsthand, the perks of a well funded NGO job.

The tea, just like the salary, comes in time, constant trips are not only fully funded, but are “funding” (in and of themselves), per diem it is called. You are often compensated according to the budget line, not necessarily, your output.

Photo by Okurut Eric: Unsplash

NGO privileges once gave me a soft spot in the world of work, but they also shielded me from the rough and tough of what it means to pursue your calling in a not-so heavenly world, yet before, as the human heart often is, land flowing with too much milk and honey sometimes produced Baal worship.

In Uganda’s case, as one of the prime recipients of American dollars, many among us, have recently faced unprecedented destabilisation resulting from USAID funding cuts, sending ripple effects in Ugandan workspaces. More grace to all the affected!

Yet the question remains, how should these sad waves of sudden job loss ebb and flow in a believer’s heart?

Sure, it’s tough to live on less, or begin looking for work again, yet it’s a good opportunity for us to remind ourselves, “…the earth is the Lord’s” (Ps 24:1) – not your (former or future) employer’s.

That said, your latest season of reduced privilege is a good space to remember (when familiar 8-5 routines are gone, and to-do lists are self-generated), that sometimes some callings end, and we have to embrace new ones.

Many of which may now invite us to redeem the time (Eph 5:15), learning to forecast our day’s hours, and minutes, in order to maximise every milli-second for the glory of God, our ever-present omnipresent and omniscient office supervisor. towards the service of others. Even if we have to say with the psalmist, “how long oh Lord!”

Sudden job loss feels like a rug has been pulled from under your feet, even your entire identity can be threatened.

Which often presents a good opportunity to not only discern your idols, but “despair of life itself” so that like Paul, you may learn “not depend on self, but on God, who raises the dead”.” Remembering that, the “good works he prepared for us in advance to do” (Eph 2:10) do not stop, because man’s supplies did.

Consider joining a Kampala community of those exploring the intersection of our work and God’s work, sign up for one of our Friday in-person cohorts in Muyenga, Bukoto. Pop into our Whatsapp group to learn more.