This past week has been the toughest week I have had since I began working at my job. As I have said before, I love my job. I feel like I am there for a reason. And one of the greatest perks of my job is that I get to work with my dearest friend Sherrie. And recently, my dear friend and former neighbor Kitty began working with us. I couldn't be happier! But, I also couldn't be sadder when I felt like I was being betrayed by management. It's a long messy story and not one that needs to be shared. There is nothing to gain by trudging through all of that muck. But the way that God has spoken to my heart in the past few days is what is important.
First off, Sherrie and I recently went to a "Women of Joy" conference in Charleston. We had an amazing time. We had the opportunity to share the weekend with some of the sweetest ladies from my church. After that conference we all vowed to put on our joyful crown and be strong and happy! Who would have thought that upon returning home that Satan would be trying to beat the doors down to steal that crown of Joy!!
Don't get me wrong, there are always going to be troubles and trials in our lives. I know that. I don't love it though. I realize that sometimes it the harder times that we Christians feel the closest to God. At least those are the times that we seem to lean more on HIM!
Unfortunately though, after we returned, life kept on going and not everyone got the same beautiful, uplifting, praise worthy messages that we got while we were in Charleston!! Too bad too!
Anyway, there has been some tremendous drama at work. Sherrie and I have both probably helped Kleenex stock rise in value here lately!! Preparation-H probably could have used us as spokes women to demonstrate how well their product works on puffiness under the eyes! At any rate, at the risk of sounding like there has been a big pity party going on...there hasn't...but there is a lesson in all of this!!
For several days and even for the last few weeks, I have been praying for God to show me what he wants me to be doing with my life. I really don't think that we should ever just be sitting around on the sofa lounging spiritually thinking that this is all that it is and God doesn't have other great stuff that he wants us to be doing. So I ask God regularly to show me what he wants me to do.
When these hard issues came up at work, I began praying to God to PLEASE show me what he wants me to do. Does he want me to stay working where I am? Does he have another plan for me? I figured that if God did have other plans that he would let me know by opening up another job for me. I was ready to hang it up at VI. So I called a lady that is the director at one of the hospitals in town. I had seen some job postings that I thought would be interesting. I thought that surely God would have one open to let me escape to. But please SHOW ME!
After talking to the director, I found out that she not only didn't have any positions but did not know of any positions that I would be able to fill. My heart sank. Did that mean that God was not answering me right now? qWas I waiting? Was I supposed to stay at VI? What God? WHAT?
Yesterday I began to have an epiphany. Suddenly, I was no longer thinking with my mind about ME and MY situation. I began to see the situationS at hand through the eyes of several people. There were several struggles going on. There were battles being fought that had nothing to do with me. Other people were hurting as well and feeling betrayed. In our lifetime, we will all experience that. How we deal with the perceived betrayal is what separates the Women of Joy from the Women of Distress! And Sherrie and I both had begun to feel our crowns of Joy start to slip off of our heads. Satan had begun to win.....to steal our Joy....to steal what we knew ourselves to be as Christian women that are good, honorable, faithful, loving and joyful!
I reminded myself early in this that I better stick to praying and trying to listen. I'm glad that I did!! Because this morning, God decided to post HIS sign! Just down the road from my house in Colbert, there is a little children's clothing shop with a billboard sign out front. Periodically they change the Bible verse on it...perhaps a message to some other person that had been praying for a SIGN!!
This morning however, the sign had been changed from whatever verse it had been the day before. It read, "Be Still and Know that I AM GOD." I knew that that was what I had been praying for....Peace. Peace and knowledge that God had this situation under control. No matter what I felt I needed to worry about or fret about...God had it all! When I got to work, I gave Sherrie a card that I had written some words of encouragement in last night. In the card, I told her that I KNEW that God had a plan for us. I felt like God had been telling me to WAIT....as God often does! WAIT...that's a tough one for me! I usually want it all and want it NOW!!!
And as I drove past that sign and read the message that hollered out to me MARCI!! HERE'S YOUR SIGN...I scrawled the message on the back of the envelope for Sherrie.....
Be still and know that I am God---God
I was so excited to give that card to Sherrie because I knew that what I had written on the inside...was exactly what God wanted us to know...and it was confirmed on the side of the ole bill board sign outside the Kid's Clothing Consignment shop in Colbert, GA.
Sherrie admitted to me that through all of this, she was sad to say that she had not been praying. She had been reacting. She had not been still. It seemed as though (I type this now with tears in my eyes) a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She knew that her burden did not have to be her own. God was there, waiting peacefully and quietly, for Sherrie and I both to be STILL. He would work this all out. He would show us what we needed to do for HIM next. He would handle all the strife. He would wrap his loving arms around us and allow us to just breathe. What a huge Blessing!
Tonight as I was sitting in the tub listening to the new CD I just bought after having seen comedian Chonda Pierce at the Women of Joy conference....Chonda began to speak of a personal experience in her life. A time when God told her....Just be still and KNOW that I am God. She sang a beautiful song called " My Soul Will Wait." And I thought...You know Marci.....HERE'S YOUR SIGN. Thank you God!
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