The Right Words at the Right Time

God always has great timing.

This past Sunday, my pastor, Joel at Life Church West Monroe, gave a great message called God 1st Career. It's part of his series, God 1st.

We should all strive to put God first, in everything we do. In our marriage, parenting and even our career. Not too long I went through something that taught me this lesson the hard way.

A few years ago I had a pretty good job. I was good at it too. But I let some things get in the way. I did not have a God 1st attitude. I had a ME 1st attitude. And let me tell you, that can stink up a place quicker than anything.

I had worked at the same place for a while. I had been there longer than alot of other folks in my department. People depended on me more than others. And I didn't let them down. It's not in my nature. If something needs to get done, I do it. And being the perfectionist that I am, I generally do it right or don't stop trying until I get there.

Basically it got to the point where I of course thought that I wasn't being paid my worth. Underpaid and overworked right? Well, that was my attitude. That and a whole lot more. I began thinking that I should be running things. Pastor Joel quoted this verse:

"Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance." Colossians 3:22

Well, I always did what I was told. And I always did my best. But I did not work from my heart for God. I worked for myself and what I thought was owed to me. I didn't respect the authority of my supervisor. I will admit that. I was . . . . .wrong. Yes I said it. (Man is that hard sometimes.)

Anyway, I got so full of myself and thought that I wasn't valued and that I needed to find that value elsewhere. So I quit. I found myself another job with a big pay raise, no weekends, off every day by 5 pm. My success didn't depend on an entire group of people doing or not doing their jobs. Just me. All me.

Finally, I would be rewarded for all of my hard work, for all of my great talents. Or so I thought.

But guess what. I was wrong. I failed and failed miserably. For 4 months, I worked at a job where I had no successes. Now, you must know how hard this is for me to admit. I don't accept defeat. I just don't. But I can tell you that this time, there was no escaping it. I had never performed so badly at something before in my life. I am going to stop now for 2 reasons. One because I think you get the picture and two because I'm bringing myself down a bit just thinking about it.

God revealed some things to me. And Pastor Joel reiterated this past Sunday. One was that your mission is much bigger than your career. I feel it in my heart that my mission is public service. I have a plan and my new job took me in a whole different direction. It had nothing to do with my purpose.

The other thing that I learned was that I had to keep faith. God was testing my faithfulness. Seeing if I would trust in him or try to take matters in my own hands. I have learned that when you take matters into your own hands, for example, quitting a job for a new one that seems to be perfect, you really make a big mess of everything. I mean a big ol' ugly cry in your car in the parking lot of a doctor's office before you go in only to have the window shut in your face mess.

And lastly, I learned that no matter how bad I think it is, it can be far worse. I went from being the best to being the absolute worst. It took me 4 months to own up to the fact that I was wrong. It took me 4 months to admit to myself that I leaned on my own understanding instead of leaning on God.

And when I admitted that, and when I took all of my angst, all of my heartbreak, all of my failures, and laid them at God's feet, that's when he rescued me.

I now have a job that God made for me. I am able to do things that will lead me down a road to fulfill my purpose. I work with great people and get to go to amazing places.

But it's funny how the devil tries to creep back in. Oh, he remembers your hurts and your mistakes.

Lately, I have been feeling a little off at work. I have noticed things that used to, would have set me off. And for a moment, I let things get to me. I will admit, I put my guard down a little.

Anyway, Pastor's words were right on Sunday. Just the recap that I needed and amazingly, just the right time. So for those of you who were in the same service, put God 1st in your career. Don't go it alone. It works out so much better if you follow him.

And if you weren't in that service, check it out at www.lifechurchwestmonroe.com. It's a great message with alot of truth.

So thanks for reading the whole thing. I didn't mean to write so much, but once you get me started, it's hard to make me stop.

Good night all.