Job Loss AppleSauce: Trusting God after Job Layoffs and Finding Comfort in Applesauce

By Noel Williamson and Angela Williamson

Written with transparency and humility from his personal experience, Williamson, a survivor of three job layoffs, gives even the most discouraged job seeker exactly what they need to lose that pit-in-the-stomach feeling and gain resilience. His 12 practical self-care tips to put into practice are timely and useful.

By the end of Job Loss AppleSa

• Language: English
• Publisher: Noel Williamson
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781087919782

Noel Williamson

Noel Williamson, survivor of three job layoffs, was the recipient of the 2012 Educator of the Year award at a job training center educating and inspiring at-risk youth. A consistent church attender since birth, he led the Youth Group and taught the high school Sunday school class for five years at his home church. He also led a men's growth group at another church for five years. Job Loss AppleSauce is his first book. He met his wonderful wife, Angela, at her church's singles ministry. If you would like to connect with Noel, email him at: [e-mail]

Book preview

Job Loss AppleSauce

Job Loss AppleSauce

Job Loss AppleSauce

Trusting God after Job Layoffs and Finding Comfort in Applesauce

Noel Williamson

Angela Williamson

Noel Williamson

Cover photos by Angela Williamson.

Green apples are from her garden.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard

Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by

Crossway Bibles

Copyright © 2022 by Noel Williamson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Printing, 2022

ISBN: 979-8-6626-5172-2

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all those who have suffered job layoffs and struggled in their job searches. Philippians 3:13 says, … I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Keep pushing forward!

Contents

1 Childhood Dreams – American as Apple Pie

2 The Wonder Years

3 A Major Change

4 Apple Crumb Pie

5 Back to School

6 Coming Up Empty

7 Apple Cobbler

8 Applesauce

9 Indigestion

10 The Next Bite

11 Settling Down

About the Author

Author’s Note

The names of people and company names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Acknowledgments

This book project would not be possible without the help and support of numerous people. First, I thank God for the many blessings He has given me. However, I am also grateful to God in times of difficulty. I am thankful for my parents’ influence of attending church as a family since I was born.

My wife’s former colleague, Sharon, was a huge help proofreading my first rough draft. Her time, comments, and tips were very much appreciated.

Thank you also to longtime family friend, Mary Lou, a former high school educator. Her proofreading assistance was extremely helpful and encouraging. My wife’s friend, Lennie, was a blessing. His experience as an author provided me invaluable suggestions. Bill, a college professor, gave me encouragement and insightful commentary.

Lastly, I thank my wife Angela for her caring support, insight, and encouragement. I appreciate her willingness to allow me to work on this project.

Preface

What do you want to be when you grow up? I recall my answer was baseball player as a kid. Now, a 45-year-old adult, I certainly did not come remotely close to that dream since I had nowhere near the athletic talent of a professional athlete. This was the loss of an 11 year-old’s dream. But what about the loss of a job when you are an adult? This happened to me. Three times actually. What did I do to get through this? This theme question is unpacked in this story.

Consequently, I attended numerous interviews, 91 to be precise, applied to 765 positions, and traveled to 16 job fairs. Upon returning home from yet another interview, my wife, Angela, would frequently say, You could write a book! Eventually that prompted me to start this project. I thought, Why not? I want to help and encourage others. There must be people going through the same job search and layoff struggles.

Preceding the job layoff chapters, it was important to share childhood and adolescent

experiences to reveal how our youthful perspectives often shift and change as we grow.

This project took over a year to come to fruition. The name Job Loss AppleSauce came to me because I wanted to have a memorable and unique title. Also the analogy of a comfortable job being like a slice of apple pie, is essential to the story. Once your job is yanked, your apple pie starts to fall apart into apple crumb pie, and then eventually, in my case, applesauce.

I pray you will find this read encouraging and will consider sharing with others in either your small group study at your church or in some other way. Use the questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate discussion with your group or for self-reflection.

-Noel Williamson

1

Childhood Dreams – American as Apple Pie

The stiff feel of the polyester powder blue shirt and faded white pants. The name of a local bank silkscreened on a circular white patch sewn on the front left side of my shirt. The stirrup socks that made me feel like I was wearing string around the soles of my feet. I was a skinny 11 year-old Little League baseball player on a team with other fifth graders. Paper wall calendars displayed June 1986. Tweens were listening to Huey Lewis and Billy Joel cassette tapes on their boom boxes and anticipating the release of Karate Kid Part II in their local movie theaters.

This was my fourth year playing Little League baseball. I love baseball. Yes, baseball is as American as hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet as the car company advertised in the mid-1970s. Who doesn’t love apple pie? More about apple pie later.

A book titled School Years that contained annual pictures of me from pre-school to twelfth grade sat on a bookshelf at home. Along with my