Focus on The Lord
This post is going to encourage some
of you. I can state right now that it won’t resonate with many of you, and
that’s ok. I had a situation happen at my job that rubbed me the wrong way, and
one of my coworkers was putting me on game about some others in our office.
While she was doing that someone from another department came by and said
something that sat in my spirit. She said, “There’s power in prayer”, which was
funny because of why she said it but a few moments after I quoted her because what
I had just witnessed. Prayer is how I got to this job in the first place, and
also how I know what she said was true. Prayer and faith have brought me very
far in my short lifetime, even when it wasn’t my own prayers or faith that God
honored. At my old job I dealt with a lot of issues, most dealing with my race
and age. The most significant of them I will share with you all here.
An older white woman that had been working for the agency for
decades kept up a lot of drama and hell in my former office. She made the
office a very hostile and unstable working environment, and once it began to
affect me it had to stop. At first I tried to play her game on her turf, so I
would send emails to our supervisor and document when I witnessed her break
rules, but none of that had any effect on anything she did. Nothing was done by
my immediate management team, and as an OPS employee I already knew that
emailing out bureau chief wouldn’t help me at all. As I was telling my Grandma
about it one day, she suggested I pray for the lady. Naturally I rolled my eyes
and scoffed at the thought, but then I remembered the Bible does tell us to
pray for our enemies. So I decided to try God on His word, and I began praying
not only for the lady but for what I desired in the office. During my lunch
break one day, as I was praying God talked back and told me that her job will
be mine in due time. I didn’t know what He was going to do or how He was going
to do it, but I knew what He told me. If I never trusted God before I trusted
Him when He told me that.
Now, I’d be lying if I told you the lady miraculously shaped
up and we all lived happily ever after until she retired willingly. She in fact
got worse with her behaviors. She complained so much that our bureau chief
ordered new desks for our office and had the office rearranged so that she was
no longer near me and another coworker of ours that she claimed was a problem.
Not long after the office reset, we experienced hurricane Irma, which had us
out of the office for about four or five days. When we all came back, we
noticed she was not there. At first we wondered if she was able to drive, or
had she left town and got stuck, or even if she was dead. When our supervisor
got to work that morning. she informed us that the lady was in the hospital due
to an infection. Before the hurricane she had fallen and cut her leg on a nail
that left a flesh-eating infection in the wound. At maximum we were expecting
her to be out a few weeks, but God had other plans. Not only was the infection
a problem, it became more complicated because she is diabetic and had suffered
strokes before. She ended up being out on sick leave from September until the
middle of January. During that time two positions were vacated and I had my eye
on one of them. I interviewed for the one I wanted and did not get it. I was
upset, but God told me that He had my position for me already, I needed to be
patient.
So, I waited
and still came in to work resting on what God had told me MONTHS AGO. When the
lady came back, I would greet her as she passed my desk in the morning, but
that was it. While she was out we had to adapt to a new system, which meant she
was going to have questions. At first our supervisor showed her how to use the
new system, but after a few days our supervisor was no longer able to stand
with her to assist with the system usage. At first I was unwilling to assist
and I silently hoped she wouldn’t call my name, but I would look up at the
Bible verses I had on display on my desk and one screamed at me so loudly one
day I almost cried. “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with
good”. Fighting her was not going to end well for me, being mean to her
wouldn’t be good for me, I had to do right by her EVEN IF SHE DIDN’T TREAT ME
RIGHT. I had to learn that what others do to me is not what I will have to
answer for, I am responsible for how I respond to them. God was humbling me and
teaching me how to interact with others by means of real-world experiences, which
led me to another verse “humble yourself under the hand of God, so that He may exalt
you in due time”. So I would happily assist her when she asked, and I
proactively engaged with her to alleviate any confusion for her. She worked
half days due to her many doctor appointments and as soon as she got back to
working full days it happened. HR needed clearance from her primary care
physician for her to return to normal schedule permanently. She had gotten
clearance from other physicians who were treating her, but not the primary care
physician. That particular doctor would not allow her to return to work, which
forced her into retirement because the agency would not accommodate a part-time
schedule for our office. When I found out she had to retire I screaming and
shouted for joy inside, because my troubles were over. As soon as her position
was posted I applied for it. I interviewed and landed the job easily and on my
first official day I heard the voice of The Lord repeat the promise He had made
months prior to those events occurring.
Shortly after the promotion I
realized that I really wanted to move on to another working environment.
Although one thorn had been removed, there were still others that remained that
I rather not have to constantly deal with. For instance there was another white
woman who constantly reported me to our bureau chief for things she assumed I
was doing, or because she felt like I was not working. Even our bureau chief
had funny acting ways that I discovered and did not like. From April until
November I went to work and applied for jobs all over the state and the
country, hoping one would call and I’d be over and out. Again I went to The
Lord and prayed for a better job that would help me get to financial freedom,
but also help develop me professionally and personally. Now I see where the
personal development will be coming in, as well as the professional
development. I’m grateful for the step up in life, God has definitely blessed
me to be where I am. However, I am starting to see how the enemy is working
within this new environment. Office gossip, attitudes, assumptions, poor
communication, unstable protocol and procedures, constant changes and petty
behaviors from women who are older than me I something I don’t tolerate. It’s
one thing to have to deal with immature customers, but to deal with
micro-aggressions and immaturity from managers is unacceptable for me.
So I told my coworker who was
putting me on game, I know how to pray and I pray every day. I may be a lot of
things but I’m not the one to mess with or treat any kind of way, because
before it’s all said and done I will have the last laugh. God has never failed
me and I know He won’t fail me. I’ve found that He won’t lead me anywhere that
His power, favor, grace and protection can’t sustain or keep me. I told her
that I give people the opportunity to show me who they are, and after they mess
up I will go to God on them. Before she left my desk she almost went to
shouting because I was serious about everything I said and I was speaking from
experience. And for you all reading this, I want to encourage you if you are
going through a test on your job, seek the spiritual view of the matter. If you
are facing a Goliath or there’s a storm in the form of a person or people on
your job, remember these two things; 1. When Peter walked on water to meet
Jesus in the midst of the storm he didn’t sink until he focused on the waves
and the wind, and 2. When David faced Goliath he only had a slingshot, five
smooth stones and his experiences when God delivered him from a lion and a
bear. My point is, focus on God and Christ, because when you focus too much on
the enemy’s distractions, you miss the lesson in the test and God’s reason for
orchestrating the situation. Always keep in mind that we wrestle not against
flesh and bloods but spiritual wickedness in high places, but the weapons of
out warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.
Peace. Love. Blessings.
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