| Can I Quit? |
 |
 |
| Articles Of Hope For - Spiritual Growth |
| Written by Sharon Merhalski |
|
Calling or a Job Opportunity? By Sharon Merhalski For whatever reasons all of us can get into a time of what Teddi Neevel calls "a funk". I don't think the word "funk" is found in the dictionary, so the meaning can be whatever we want it to be. I've adopted the word and for me it means a kind of quiet or sad time in limbo...limbo being a place or state of restraint or confinement...an intermediate or transitional place or state of uncertainty. For most of this fall and winter 2008-2009 I have lived in a "funk." Our organization has been in a transitional phase that has had many pockets of uncertainty, all of which caused the need to wait on answers...and the waiting often felt restraining. So many times I told others that I felt like a race horse in the starting gate at the race track and the gate behind me had been shut...confining me....and I was ready to run!!! "I" was ready to run but God had not shot the gun to open the starting gate and start the race. So, too often I looked like a race horse in that position....snorting, hopping up and down, swaying side to side, impatient and hitting my chest against the gate in front of me. That is not a comfortable time for the jockey on the back of the horse and I know it was not a comfortable time for the Holy Spirit living in me. He was patient and loving and enabled me to endure without hurting myself....most of the time....except when "I" had taken control of the situation to try and start the race! When "I" took control Satan took advantage of the situation and shot me with arrows of discouragement, waged war and tried to convince me to change "careers" and open a restaurant or knit potholders for the rest or my life. One day around Thanksgiving Satan discouraged me to the brink of 'retirement'. I'm 59 years old with non-fixable health problems and I often miss being able to do crafts and sew. I questioned whether it was time to 'retire' and that questioning lasted about five minutes until my heart heard God firmly say to me, "You can't!!!" Being 'spiritual' I asked God why not? And gently God, my Abba Father, reminded me that our service for Him is a calling, not a job opportunity....and while we can quit a job we cannot quit a calling. I shed many tears while meditating on this situation. I remembered the time, place and circumstance when God clearly gave me my life's verse, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10 As I sat and listened, and remembered, God gently taught me again that He has a calling for each of His children and that calling is to glorify Him, share the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world and comfort others with the comfort He has given to us...while being all that He says we need to be in Titus 2:1-4....teaching all things to all people...having compassion making a difference. As I mused on the following verses godly stubborn determination welled up in me. This determination replaced my thoughts of "retirement" and dispelled my discouragement as I stood still in the starting gate...determined to serve God while I waited on His timing to start the race before me. I dearly love the Lord and want to be obedient to His will. I then went to my document file and pulled up the text below these verses and read it many times as a prayer and praise to the Lord. Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 1Corinthians 7:20 "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called." 2Timothy 1:9 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began," Romans 15:6 "That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2Corinthians 1:3-5 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. " My Decision "The die is cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and spoken up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go 'til He comes, give 'til I drop, present the gospel 'til all know, and work 'til He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. --unknown author Share us with your friends:          .text:''):(d.getSelection?d.getSelection():'');void(keyit=window.open('http://my.poco.cn/fav/storeIt.php?t='+escape(d.title)+'&u='+escape(d.location.href)+'&c='+escape(t)+'&img=http://www.h-strong.com/blog/logo.gif','keyit','scrollbars=no,width=475,height=575,status=no,resizable=yes'));keyit.focus();){kind=logo}          Quote this article on your site To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
Can I Quit? Monday, 02 August 2010 Calling or a Job Opportunity? By Sharon Merhalski For whatever reasons all of us can get into a time of what Teddi Neevel calls "a funk". I don't think the word "funk" is found in the dictionary, so the meaning can be whatever we want it to... © 2012 - Titus 2 Men And Women Powered by QuoteThis © 2008 |
