Made Perfect in Weakness

  Hey friends :)  I just want to say, thank you for reading the things I write.  I truly appreciate the time that you take to read my thoughts and life.

  My God never ceases to amaze me.  His sweet love, mercy, and grace continues to win my heart over and over.  The way He guides me and uses me even when I don't deserve to be used, it honestly takes my breath away.  I'm so thankful for His promise. Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

    Today was the worst and best work day I've ever experienced.  When I woke up today, I had absolutely no desire to go to work.  This is strange for me.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a workaholic or anything, but I love going in to work, seeing the regular customers and my co-workers and also having the knowledge that I'm working to pay off my education.  Normally at work I'm pretty chipper and happy.  Not today.  It's hard to describe, but I was almost depressed this morning?  Now I can look back and see that Satan was attacking me and trying to keep me from the day and mission that God had in store.  When I got to work, the second customer in line was a very rich, but not very nice lady.  Little to say it was not a stellar start to my shift.  During this whole day, I kept on making really, really stupid mistakes.  For example, once I told a customer her total was $3.07.  That was the time. A while later, another very, very not nice customer came in.  She began yelling some not very nice things at me in the store because her check wouldn't process.  Then she proceeded to tell me she would never step foot in our store again.  I bit my tongue before I got out the words, "thank God." After she left I cried.  Yes, a customer made me cry.  This is also a strange thing about today.  I don't cry.  Well, I mean I cry sometimes, like when people die or someone really hurts me, but crying is not something that I do very easily.  At that point, I was so tempted to go punch out and leave.  My attitude was stinky, I had mean customers, and work was the last place I wanted to be at that moment.  Boy am I glad I didn't leave.

     I firmly believe that as the body of Christ we are to be "in the world".  I mean, where does Jesus reach people?  Right where they are.  He doesn't wait to win them until they have stepped in to a building we call Church.  Jesus is where the people who need Him are. He climbs in to the dirty filthy dungeons to release captives from their bondage and slavery to sin.  If we're pursuing Jesus and becoming more like Him, should our lives look any different?

     That being said, I think that secular workplaces can be one of the greatest "mission fields".  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about going and passing out cheesy tracts on break time.  I'm talking about making relationships, getting to know peoples stories, seeing where they've come from and what has made them into who they are.  Knowing someone's heart is much more important than their outward behavior.  Once you get to know someone behind their language, course humor, addictions, you can see the void and pain in their life. There is always a story behind the face.

     This brings me back to my worst and best workday.  Now I'm getting to the best.  It is my heart that my unsaved family, friends, and coworkers would find the same life, love and freedom that I've found in Jesus Christ.  That their eyes would be filled with hope and peace rather than emptiness.  Today I had an opportunity to share the Gospel with one of my friends at work.  This guy thinks he is a pretty tough.  He is super nice, but he is a little rough around the edges to say the least.  During the end of my shift, things started to get kind of slow.  I was still having a rotten attitude and just a plain out not good day.  I was just chilling with him at the registers, then we started talking.  He started pouring out his life to me and how he'd OD'd and tried so many times to take his life but was never successful.  How many times he should have died but didn't and how much he wished he was, to be "free".  Here is where the Holy Spirit kicked into gear big time. I was able to share with him God's protection over his life and the hope that can be found in our Jesus.  That the reason why he wasn't successful was because his life was created with a purpose.  That God loved him and didn't want him to go to hell.  It was the most awesome conversation that I've had at work and I know the words coming out of my mouth weren't mine.  He was so receptive and said he'd think about what I'd said.  Now comes time for more intercession.

     I just wanted to share this story because I was so completely humbled by God's ability to use weak things (me).  Today was probably one of my weakest days.  I didn't feel strong, spiritual, or even friendly today.  In spite of myself, God chose to use me.  Not because of anything that I'd done, but because of what He's done.  I'm so humbled, so thankful.

Praise Your name, Jesus, You make beautiful things out of dust.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.