November 2019 - GraceAndWorks

Throughout life jobs will usually come and go. Sometimes we get that  one job and make a career out of it. Then we get that one job that we really like and all of a sudden it’s gone. The company downsized, they just did away with your position, or they let you go. Sometimes there is a reason and sometimes not. They say they are going in a different direction. REALLY? What does that mean? How do you deal with it? Throughout my life I have lost 4 different positions. One was devastating!! All was going well, I thought, then one day the owner walked in and said, “pack your stuff, you’re done.” No reason–just done!! It was a great job and paid well. I thought, now what? I can tell you this, nothing was ever the same!! I never enjoyed the happiness in the work place that I had running the 10 man sales crew I had built and having my daughter working side by side with me. The company was very successful and I couldn’t figure out, WHY was I let go. I said all the things, “I’ve been let go from better jobs that this (Lie), I was looking for a job when I found this one, they can’t fire me, I quit.” I laughed with my “Friends”, but inside I was torn apart. NOBODY knew how bad I felt, until now. I dealt with depression on my own. I felt like I was on an island by myself and I was going to have to figure this out by myself. Yeah, my family was there for me, but they would never fully understand what I was going through, or completely went through. To this day it still bothers me. We say, “All is good, life goes on, I’ll bounce back, I can handle this”, but deep down you know these are falsehoods.

The only real answer is God. I got more involved with the Church, talked to God more, and leaned on the scriptures to see what God was saying to me. I taught more classes, preached more sermons, and now I have this blog site. Much of my teaching and preaching is built around life experience. I try to relate things to people that might be struggling to make “Life” work. It has helped me, and from comments I get, it has helped others. For those of you that are struggling, let God help you work things out. Will everything be normal or back like they were? Probably not. But you find a new path and “Life” goes on.

SMILE God loves YOU!! Have a good day all.

The Church was established on the Day of Pentecost. The Christians spread across the nation and the early focus was all about fellowship. Everyone on the same page with their Christianity, getting along, and fellowshiping one with the other. Their focus was on the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit working inside them, the devotion to teaching and preaching God’s Word, and following the example Jesus set before us. Now let us dream a little about the future of the Churches of Christ.

A future where foster care shortages no longer exist because Christians take in all the children in need of care. (Sounds like the early Church)

A future in which churches don’t sell their buildings and move to the suburbs, but stay in the struggling communities that need Jesus. (Sounds like the early Church)

A future in which congregations recognize different nationalities and age groups. (Sounds like the early Church)

A future in which orphans and widows see the Church of Christ in any town as a place where they can turn for love, support, peace, and safety. (Sounds like the early Church)

I know that these are just dreams. Or are they? It seems to me that we are in an age where we need to study what the early Church was all about and what it stood for. We as Christians need to be steadfast in our fellowship and care on one another.

SMILE God loves YOU!! Have a good day all.