Here are the realities. I know right now that I am where I am supposed to be. I have had that sense during the majority of my time with my current employer. However, during that same time I have also known that I want to be doing something else, that this employment is not moving me closer to my vision for my career (and I believe God's vision...). I have been searching for geology related jobs nearly the entire time. My networking efforts have been encouraging but fruitless.
I have not been content living this paradox. I feel called to contentment, something that has been a lifelong struggle. About a month ago I thought that if I could just figure out contentment in this place, then maybe God would give me what I really want. Neat idea, but I don't think that's how it actually works.
Today Pastor Cecelia talked about God using chaos in our lives. In Job 38, God answered Job out of the storm, not after he had cleared the storm. That's where God is.
Where am I? In Genesis 3:10, Adam heard God and he was afraid. But he also hid. He ran to the trees instead of the Maker of the trees. We're all hiding in something. The good news is that God's still asking for us and He loves us so much that He's asking a question that he already knows the answer to; He wants to hear from us.
Pastor Cecelia's third point was in the question, "Where is your brother?" She referenced Cain and Abel in Genesis 4, "am I my brother's keeper?" Are we willing to be in a place of loving accountability with our brothers and sisters? Are we willing to ask them what trees they are hiding in and walk with them as they go back to the Maker of the trees?
She related this to our call to serve others throughout the world; she had highlighted some of our church's mission trips from the summer. I have always resonated with world missions and a desire to go anywhere for God. But today for the first time ever, hearing one of those Great Commission sermons, I fully grasped my own current mission field. I realize the conversations I need to have in my own work place. I know that I am here for a reason, even if it doesn't make sense.
God was preparing me for this as I brushed my teeth this morning I remembered that at one point in life I declared Proverbs 3:5 as my life verse. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." There's so much that doesn't make sense, but my job is to trust and obey.
