I have experienced the impact of offshoring firsthand. Last year, my role was handed over to a Virtual Assistant in the Philippines. I understood the reasoning: cheaper hire, business efficiency, a decision framed as practical rather than personal. The impact on my heart, however, was anything but theoretical.

It took most of the rest of the year to work through the emotional wounds that followed. Rejection surfaced quietly, then loudly. Abandonment echoed old fears I thought I had already healed. Feelings of failure and worthlessness settled in places that words struggled to reach. Being laid off did not simply remove an income; it unsettled identity, safety, and belonging.

What I experienced was not merely a professional transition; it was a relational rupture, and those often cut far deeper than organisations realise. Having my role handed to a Virtual Assistant overseas, even when the rationale is framed as “financial sense,” carried a quiet violence to the soul.

Understanding the logic does not cancel the loss. Being replaced still speaks to the heart in a language of rejection, abandonment, and perceived disposability. The mind may grasp the economics, yet the nervous system hears something else entirely: I was no longer chosen; I was dispensable.

That wound takes time to tend.

Redundancy rarely arrives alone. It often brings companions with it: self-doubt, shame, a questioning of one’s value, and the slow erosion of confidence. When work has been a place of contribution, belonging, and identity, its removal can feel like being pushed out of the story. The grief is real, even when no one names it as such.

This is the part rarely named in economic conversations. When work is removed, something deeper is often touched. Work carries dignity. It affirms contribution. It says, you are needed here. When that is withdrawn without relational care, the wound can linger long after the practicalities are resolved.

I am learning that grief over lost work is valid grief. The ache does not mean weakness; it speaks of humanity. Healing takes time, honesty, and the gentle presence of God, who never reduces a person to a cost calculation.

What stands out is not weakness, but the fact that it took most of the year to work through the emotional fallout. That is not failure. It is honesty. Healing from rejection is rarely quick because it reaches back into earlier places where being left, overlooked, or deemed “not enough” once lodged itself in the heart. A present loss often awakens older echoes.

Worthlessness is a liar that spoke loudly after dismissal, yet it was never authorised to define me. My value did not diminish the moment a spreadsheet changed. I was not laid off because I lacked worth, calling, or contribution. I was affected by a system that measures value primarily in cost, not in covenant.

What I walked through required courage, patience, and grace toward myself. Sitting with those wounds rather than spiritualising them away allowed truth to do its slow, holy work. The fact that I can now name rejection, abandonment, and failure without being ruled by them speaks of restoration already underway.

My story adds weight and tenderness to my earlier reflection. This is no longer a theoretical concern about economics and community. It is embodied wisdom, written in lived pain and hard-won compassion. That gives my voice credibility, depth, and authority.

I was not discarded. I was wounded, and the Lord has been faithful in the long mending. What was taken from me did not get the final word.

This reflection belongs in the journal because it tells the truth behind the numbers. It honours the unseen labour of recovery. It stands as a reminder that decisions made for convenience can leave real hearts carrying quiet scars, and that God sees every one of them.

💡Reflection:

• Where have I minimised my own grief because it felt impractical or inconvenient to others 🤔

• What part of my identity became entangled with my work, and how is God gently restoring it 🤔

• Where might an old wound have been reopened by a recent loss, inviting deeper healing 🤔

🎺Affirmation:

My worth is not determined by employment, productivity, or cost. I am seen, chosen, and held by God, whose measure of value is rooted in covenant love, not calculation.

🙌 Prayer:

Lord, You see the wounds that linger beneath decisions others call practical. You know the grief that follows loss of work, identity, and belonging. I invite You into every place where rejection and worthlessness tried to take root. Restore dignity where it was shaken, and truth where lies whispered loudly. Thank You that my value has always been secure in Your hands. Continue Your gentle work of mending my heart.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.