Work Related – The Faith Travels

HI Faith Travelers!

By a show of virtually raised hands, how many of you are going through a storm right now? Picture me raising my own hand right along with you.

A storm can be defined as a violent disturbance of the atmosphere; an uproar or controversy; a sudden attack; a direct assault.

If you think of this in the terms of things you may be going through, that violent disturbance of the atmosphere can be sickness in your body. That uproar and controversy can be friction with your family, marriage or relationship. The sudden attack can be on your finances while that direct assault can be blatant unfair treatment towards you at your place of employment. The storm can come in the form of many things, but it’s never about the storm itself, it’s about how you navigate THROUGH the storm. A quote by Charles R. Swindoll states, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” It’s more about how we respond versus what has actually happened to us.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
–Charles R. Swindoll

How do you respond to the storm? What’s your attitude, your heart posture; how are you standing in faith to get THROUGH to the other side? I put so much emphasis on the word “Through” because of the meaning and the sheer hope behind the word. Through means “moving in one side and out to the other side of. The other side meaning, healing after sickness, restoration and reconciliation after family or relationship rift, financial breakthrough after a financial drought and recompense after mistreatment.

What does that look like as it relates to the word of God? The bible states in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” This scripture lets us know even when the storms arise and look to be overwhelming, we must first and foremost, Trust God. Trust that whatever the situation is, it’s in no way shape or form bigger than the true and living God. Don’t lean on your own understanding of thinking this issue has the final say or that it won’t end in your favor, trust God who can direct your path through this storm, when you allow Him to by trusting Him over what it looks like. That means walking by faith and not by sight (See II Corinthians 5:7).

Trusting God also looks like Matthew 6:34 MSG where it reads, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes”. God is with you always so no matter the trials, circumstance, or situation, you can count on Him to help you walk through it to the other side.

Now that you are trusting God with that situation, your heart posture has to match by choosing joy and being at peace in the midst of the storm. James 1:2-4 NCV in God’s word says, My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need. Once you decide to choose joy in the midst of the trials, God can then make it joy because of the act of your faith (See Matthew 17:20).

My husband shared this story with me about the time he was driving one of our church leaders out of town to a conference. As soon as he got on the highway ramp towards the destination it started pouring rain to the point he could hardly see the road. He could have pulled over to the side of the road but he knew that was dangerous and could have led to another car hitting them due to lack of visibility. He preservered through the drive and before he knew it he was on the other side of the storm where the sky was clear and sunny with a rainbow reminder of God’s promise (See Genesis 9:13-16). As he looked out the rear view mirror he could see the storm behind him where it was dark, cloudy and pouring rain but coming THROUGH the storm on the other side didn’t look like what he had been through.

On the other side of the storm

That’s what it’s like walking with God through storms and trials. When you trust Him, count it all joy and walk in faith with Him through it, He will bring you out on the other side of victory, where it won’t look like what you’ve been through.

Until the next Faith Story…

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It Won’t Be Easy But It’s Necessary

HI Faith Travelers!

I’ve been looking forward to talking to you all this week! This was a week where I was eagerly anticipating Friday just to see what God wanted to say to you today because he of course didn’t give the title until the eleventh hour. I realized everything that He has me to write for you turns right back around and serves as a faith reminder and strengthener for me as well. This has really been a week, but for those of you who had a smooth sailing week, Praise God! For those of you who had a directionally challenged week like myself, meaning the week didn’t know whether it wanted to go good or bad…keep your head up, Thank Jesus and know that tomorrow is another chance to count it all joy (James 1:2-3)!

If you haven’t realized it yet, we are still touching on the topic of Obedience. At this point, I’m sure we recognize that this topic is important to God. This is why throughout the past few weeks of blogging, I’ve had the opportunity to self-reflect on my own acts of obedience to God and if I am being honest; those acts of obedience weren’t always pretty nor easy to walk through.

Obedience isn’t always just an act of kindness, a gesture or a matter of not doing something that sins against God. Obedience can look like taking a new opportunity that is difficult and stretches you to build character, it can be walking with God on a healing journey to uproot the symptoms of perfectionism and parental wounds, it can look like forgiving someone who has offended or hurt you badly or even praying for that person who recently betrayed you. This is why when you’re walking in obedience, it won’t be easy but it’s necessary.

“It won’t be easy but it’s necessary…” This was the very phrase that God whispered to me years ago during my time of sitting in His presence in prayer one day. It is a phrase that often echoes in my spirit whenever I realize that I have entered into a new season ( Ecclesiastes 3:1) that feels difficult or rather uncomfortable. I think about when I was at my last place of employment and I was being overworked with 3 jobs in 1, overlooked for promotion and treated in a manner that a lot would say was unfair. Even after an almost 10 year career there at the time, I wanted out immediately! I started updating my resume, refining my LinkedIn profile and applying for jobs wherever they were posted. All of that just for God to tell me “No, not yet”. I would respond, ” What Lord, what do you mean “No, no yet”…this entire situation at work is stressful, humiliating and frustrating and I know you can’t possibly want me to stay in this.” From that point on, I didn’t hear much from God on that specific matter until I would see a job posting that would peak my interest. In my excitement of seeing something I was interested in, I would eagerly go to apply and then hear God unexpectedly utter “No, not yet”, yet again. This went on for months, and I had already applied for positions including those I was over-qualified for. Again, I was desperate to get out. Well the funny thing (funny now but not back then) is that I was denied from every single job I applied for. Every. Single. One. This definitely hurt but then I realized there must be a reason God is literally not allowing me to move on from this job.

I sought the Lord specifically on this matter and He shared with me that even though He didn’t intend for me to be go through what I was going through the way I was going through it; in the midst of it all He was with me (Deuteronomy 31:8, Matthew 28:20) and would work it out for my good (Romans 8:28). The devil was using (Ephesians 6:12) specific people to taunt me and make me prematurely leave a place where God was still growing me up to prepare me for the places He was calling me to in the future. Not to mention, I was on assignment at work outside of my actual job, God had me to minister to specific people including maintenance contractors, janitors, the cleaning ladies I loved talking to and those that would come by to put a request in my prayer box on my desk.

Fast forward to 3 years later, after being at that employer for now 13 years, God opened a door to a new opportunity, a new industry and a new career path. A position I literally WAS NOT qualified for on paper…But God! This was true evidence to me that God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Though I didn’t see it at the time, God was building my character at my old job to prepare me for my new job and other future opportunities. He was strengthening my trust in walking with Him and His plan for my life, and positioning me for His perfect timing. It wasn’t easy but it was necessary.

I can recall one thing that God said to me in a different situation that is very much so applicable to this one, He said to me, ” Just because it’s not happening the way you expected it to, doesn’t mean you’re being punished…you’re being positioned.”

” Just because it’s not happening the way you expected it to doesn’t mean you’re being punished…you’re being positioned.”
-God

If you happen to find yourself in a place where you feel like things aren’t happening for you the way that you think they should and you are running into wall after wall, Look to God. If you have a feeling that there is more for you but you don’t see the path, Look to God. If you have a desire to live and walk out a purpose driven life, Look to God. The focus should always be Jesus(God) yet the path will be one intricately designed to take you from the test to the testimony and pit to the palace. It won’t be easy but it will always be necessary.

Until the next faith story…