PRAY IT! Joy to the Work! Week 1

Happy Thanksgiving, PoC and Friends!

This upcoming sermon series, Joy to the Work:  Every Member a Minister and I have a love-hate relationship.  Maybe you're looking forward to it.  Maybe you're dreading it.  It could be just what you're needing, regardless of how you feel.  I don't really know.  But I do firmly believe God has something amazing in store for us.

I know if I were being refreshingly honest, I could write a really lengthy blog lamenting on woes and struggles regarding job/work/calling/passion, etc. 

But I won't.  (It is Thanksgiving, after all).  Maybe next week...

As far as prayer goes, here is what I would suggest for us all to target our prayers toward in light of our upcoming series:  preparation.

Stick with me here.

When I first heard Pastor Todd suggest this whole God+work+me+it's all sacred, I wanted to punch him.  I did not want to ponder the "what if..." I wanted to stay miserable and unhappy, because I had a right to be miserable and unhappy.  Being anything other than that would be inauthentic and somehow be akin to my approval of things that were contributing to my unhappiness.  So... miserable and unhappy.  Frowning face.  Arms crossed. 

Maybe the notion that wherever God has placed you - yes, even there - is exactly that:  where God has placed you, makes you want to vomit.  To rebel.  To protest with every fiber of your being. 

God began to prepare my heart and to consider possibility... (And it's been pretty cool!)

So here's my question:  What if...?  (Consider being open to refreshing possibilities...)

What if... you really are where God has placed you (for this season)?
What if... there is a higher purpose for your presence in said place, whether you see it or not... whether you like it or not... whether you approve of it or not...
What if... some kind of happiness were possible "Monday through Friday" despite your possible OfficeSpaceNinetoFiveFightClubTheDevilWearsPradaHorribleBosses job circumstances?

Maybe your job is not your passion.  Maybe your job is a place you desperately want delivered from.  Maybe your job is downright awful.  But maybe the season is temporary and the circumstances are permissible in the bigger picture of God's plan. 

For example... what if... God let you stay where you didn't want to be, for a season of time, because He knew you'd be at the right place, at the right time, when a co-worker needed someone to be Jesus to them.  Maybe God let you stay where you didn't want to be, for a season of time, because He knew you were going to have some hefty medical bills, and a job change when you wanted it would have thrown off your insurance.  Maybe God let you stay where you didn't want to be because you brought some joy to your co-workers in a time of otherwise miserable transition and change?

Whether it's provision, or preparation, or just simply not only about us as much as we wish sometimes it were, God is wise and trustworthy.  Despite our natural inclinations, we don't actually have to have all the details in order to respond to God with obedience and let a 'lil bit 'o joy spill out of us in the process.

Prayerfully consider, sometime between now and Sunday, for God to help prepare your heart... my heart... our hearts... to be open to the "what if's..."

I don't have all the answers.  I haven't figured it all out.  But I think there's a lot of possibility looming ahead for us, church!  I'm excited to take this 3 week journey with you, PoC!  What if... we could really be "The Whos" instead of "The Grinch"?

Why not?????????????????????

Dear God,

Thank you for Jesus.  Thank you for your many blessings.  Please help prepare our hearts and minds for what You have for us in this season of our lives.  Help us to respond with frontloaded trust.  We need you.  We love you.  Amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Celia

No prayer service tonight.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.  - 1 Corinthians 10:31