Living in a small town you hear things about people. Things that have been carried from one person's lips to another, possibly getting tangled up in speculation along the way.
My dad challenged me the other day to look back and remember what God planted in my heart before the move to Slave Lake - things he told me about this place and what it would be to me.
The main thing I got from God was that Slave Lake was to be a mission-field - a place that he would use me out of my comfort zone. When we gave up the missionary dream with MAF, we were afraid that we were being disobedient to God. But he affirmed this move to Slave Lake as obedience.
When I arrived, the first job I applied to was given a face of over-exuberant Christianity. I was told that it was a Christian atmosphere and was given to playing only Christian music and handing out tracks. Quite frankly, this turned me off. I wasn't craving to work in a 'Christian' environment. My last job was in one and it was undoubtedly a real jewel in that it was a very genuine Christian workplace. But I have worked in a lot 'Christian' workplaces and have seen the difficulty and the bumps in the road when people try to mix Christianity with business. I just felt that it was time for me to break out of that bubble in my work life.
It is easy when you have grown up in the Christian culture, to say you're a Christian and look like a Christian and talk like Christian. But it is a lot harder to go and actually be a Christian in a place that is secular. To be like Jesus instead of just talking about him and I was craving this challenge in my own life.
So, I applied to a different job with this perspective in mind and God confirmed it almost immediately. And this job has already challenged my spiritual walk in the way I react to people, to situations, to the overwhelming overload of info that I am expected to know and work with in this new job.
I have struggled already with swearing out loud at my desk, with certain personalities at work, with feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. These are all things that you experience in a Christian and non-Christian workplace. But the main difference is that noone is expecting you in a non-Christian workplace to 'act' like a Christian. It is normal to swear out loud, normal to avoid certain people, normal to be ok with all that. And thus, here is the point where my faith in Jesus is actually put to test.
Do I listen to or join in gossip or do I rise above it and just pray about it? Do I get frustrated or bitter with people or do I pray for them and commit frustrations to God? These are precisely the things that I am happy that I am being challenged on.
Going back to what I first said, about speculation getting tangled up with gossip.
Coming to a small town, where everyone knows everyone's history and faults and messups - I want to choose to not giving in to the need to know all that. Rather I want to try and take people as they are, respect the red flags and discernment God gives me about them, but make sure to try and love them anyway and respect my relationship with Jesus in the way I represent him.
I can't guarantee that I will hold to this all the time cuz let's face it, I really mess up this whole representing Christ thing a lot, but I am going to try and surrender it to God and just keep going after the messups.
Was talking to Becca just now and she was mentioning how with yoga you do a move and then come back to your centre, and then another move and back to your centre. She spoke about this relating to her life in terms of her feelings and when she is frustrated, taking the time to go off and pray through stuff and come back to the centre of being in Christ. That is how I feel too!!
My dad challenged me the other day to look back and remember what God planted in my heart before the move to Slave Lake - things he told me about this place and what it would be to me.
The main thing I got from God was that Slave Lake was to be a mission-field - a place that he would use me out of my comfort zone. When we gave up the missionary dream with MAF, we were afraid that we were being disobedient to God. But he affirmed this move to Slave Lake as obedience.
When I arrived, the first job I applied to was given a face of over-exuberant Christianity. I was told that it was a Christian atmosphere and was given to playing only Christian music and handing out tracks. Quite frankly, this turned me off. I wasn't craving to work in a 'Christian' environment. My last job was in one and it was undoubtedly a real jewel in that it was a very genuine Christian workplace. But I have worked in a lot 'Christian' workplaces and have seen the difficulty and the bumps in the road when people try to mix Christianity with business. I just felt that it was time for me to break out of that bubble in my work life.
It is easy when you have grown up in the Christian culture, to say you're a Christian and look like a Christian and talk like Christian. But it is a lot harder to go and actually be a Christian in a place that is secular. To be like Jesus instead of just talking about him and I was craving this challenge in my own life.
So, I applied to a different job with this perspective in mind and God confirmed it almost immediately. And this job has already challenged my spiritual walk in the way I react to people, to situations, to the overwhelming overload of info that I am expected to know and work with in this new job.
I have struggled already with swearing out loud at my desk, with certain personalities at work, with feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. These are all things that you experience in a Christian and non-Christian workplace. But the main difference is that noone is expecting you in a non-Christian workplace to 'act' like a Christian. It is normal to swear out loud, normal to avoid certain people, normal to be ok with all that. And thus, here is the point where my faith in Jesus is actually put to test.
Do I listen to or join in gossip or do I rise above it and just pray about it? Do I get frustrated or bitter with people or do I pray for them and commit frustrations to God? These are precisely the things that I am happy that I am being challenged on.
Going back to what I first said, about speculation getting tangled up with gossip.
Coming to a small town, where everyone knows everyone's history and faults and messups - I want to choose to not giving in to the need to know all that. Rather I want to try and take people as they are, respect the red flags and discernment God gives me about them, but make sure to try and love them anyway and respect my relationship with Jesus in the way I represent him.
I can't guarantee that I will hold to this all the time cuz let's face it, I really mess up this whole representing Christ thing a lot, but I am going to try and surrender it to God and just keep going after the messups.
Was talking to Becca just now and she was mentioning how with yoga you do a move and then come back to your centre, and then another move and back to your centre. She spoke about this relating to her life in terms of her feelings and when she is frustrated, taking the time to go off and pray through stuff and come back to the centre of being in Christ. That is how I feel too!!
When I too was working in factory work, I won't mention the number of years, let's just say, neither of our children were born, representing Christ like character to be difficult. With men all around and foul language, dirty jokes etc. it made it easy to slip into that same behavior, especially when they didn't know I was a christian. I often had to keep asking God for forgiveness and start again with a clean slate. Thanking God for never leaving me or forsaking me. As unfathomable as that is to me, it is something I hang on to each day as I wake and try not to be the person Satan would like me to be and continue to strive for Christ-likeness, because I love Him because He first Loved Me!! Continuing to pray for you Both Always Aunt Leth
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