The Reality of Divine Themes in Life

“What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in life right now?”

Well, up until about a week ago, I would have answered graduating college and getting a full-time job. Now that those two are resolved, I face a new challenge.

As I explained this to Robin and Marcia Hadfield, a couple I have been staying with in Seattle, I went on to tell them that the biggest challenge I face in life right now is finding confidence and security in my job.

Do I know how to do my job? Of course.

Do I know how to do my job will excellence? Not yet.

What I face is the anxiety of finding my rhythm. There are things I’ve done before, and things I haven’t. Things I need to learn, and things I need to keep learning.

What I learned was astounding. But first, some context.

July 1st I started as a youth intern at Foothills Christian Church. I ended up working there for over a year and a half. In that time, I learned a lot about myself. A LOT.

The job was challenging, which was good. But it was challenging for reasons different than most jobs.

Most jobs, you have clear distinctions between different areas of your life.

Work is separated from friends, which is separated from your family, which is separated from your friends.

Not in this case. My friends became my co-workers, my pastor became my boss, my ministry became my work, and my work became my ministry.

Early on I was talking to one of my friends (and coworkers) about how weird it was realizing these new dynamics and he had a word for me founded in Colossians 3:23 which says…

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”

That became the theme to dwell on. What it taught me was that in everything that I do, do it unto the Lord. So whether its ministry, school, church, work, family friends, etc., it should all be for one common denominator — the Lord.

And man did I learn that lesson. It came up all the time. Any student in one of my ministries would know that I talked about it in probably every single one of my messages.

And I knew that that verse would ring true until that season of life concluded.

SO.

I had been waiting on the Lord for the next theme for this new season of life, graduated from college and working full-time.

After I explained the biggest challenge I was facing in life, Robin turned to me and asked me what resources I use to prepare myself for something I don’t know what to do.

“Google?”

Not the wisest answer.

“Have you ever considered the Holy Spirit? Have you ever considered Isaiah 26:3?”

I asked him to explain. Isaiah 26:3 says

“You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.”

And the word for mind can be translated more accurately to the word imagination.

Robin began to tell a story about his daughter Heather, who just starting out at her new job at Microsoft was given complex task that she had no idea how to do. Instead of looking to google, or even another coworker, she first looked to the Lord. After a while, an idea sparked her mind.

And then another. And then yet another.

Pretty soon, she was on to something, and she felt good about what she was producing.

When her boss asked to for the finished product, he was astonished at the quality of work she had produced, asking her how she could possibly have even known what to do.

We can trust the Lord to spark our imagination and begin to permeate our work lives. We can trust the Holy Spirit to be in sync with every area of life. We can use the Holy Spirit to not only give us the answers we need, but also to show us how to do it.

I will trust in the Lord to inspire my work and partner with Him to do the best that I can every day.

Now, I rest in Isaiah 26:3.

“You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.”