We have the power to do our “jobs.”

One of my pet peeves in life is when someone is given a job title without the power to do to the job well. For example, a person is hired to be a cashier but then has to call a manager to open the drawer if he or she accidentally closes the drawer prematurely.

Powerless.

The Ritz Carlton gives employees power to solve a problem for up to $2000 without having to call a manager. THIS article explains “Each Lady & Gentleman at The Ritz-Carlton, at all levels, are empowered to spend up to $2000 per guest, per incident.” How empowering it must be to be a server at a Ritz Carlton restaurant, have a meal order go wrong, and be able to comp meals, for example, without having to call a supervisor.

God has given us the power to do our jobs.

The moment we place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God resides in us and begins immediately to transform us bit-by-bit into the likeness of Christ. Under His leadership, we become a better display of God’s nature to a watching world with each passing year. My life has been a train wreck at times, filled with twists and turns, but once I placed my faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins, God took responsibility for me as His child and I am not the same person I once was. To some people who knew me 30 years ago, I would be unrecognizable today.

The world does not need to cooperate with us.

God has blessed me with a great family, superb friends, a good neighborhood and a job I enjoy. On many days I get treated well and receive positive messages. Those are allowed by God to keep me going. After all, I am a human being that needs community and love and purpose.

However, I don’t need any of those things to be okay. On the days when the family is not cooperating, the friendship takes a downward turn, a something difficult happens at work,

We have not lost the power to live our lives well.

The Holy Spirit of God has not gone anywhere. God the Spirit lives inside of every Christ follower: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

When it is not easy to love someone, we have God’s love from inside of us to extend.

When joy is not happening, we have God’s joy to draw on to keep our smile on.

When circumstances are not peaceful, God’s peace indwells us so we don’t have to get rattled by the chaos.

When someone is not kind to us, we have God’s kindness to treat respond in a way they don’t deserve.

When the world is harsh, we can always stand strong.

When people let us down and are faithless, we can remain faithful.

When the world is harsh, we can still be gentle in response.

When our emotions are triggered, we can still respond with self-control.

Hold your head high.

When the world doesn’t cooperate with you today, you have the power within you to address the problem. Whatever it is; You have the power. God’s power. You can do your job well today — reflecting God’s nature and responding in God’s way — without anything or anyone responding the way you had hoped.

Cooperation will arrive in all kinds of ways.

Just in case I sound unrealistically optimistic, let me clarify. Life is hard! Life is very difficult for every single person. God sees all the ways we are being jostled and hurt by others. He holds all our tears in a bottle. When the person or situation in front of us causes problems, God is close to us in our pain and often rushes to comfort us in other ways in addition to the comfort He Himself provides.

If you have a rough morning at home, a student may write you a kind note this afternoon. If your job is difficult this afternoon, you may arrive home to your favorite comfort meal. When you are sad, someone in the Starbucks line may pay for your order. God will show up in all kinds of ways on the outside to let you know He is near, but our greatest gift from Him is that we have all of Him on the inside.

Be comforted.

When we roll out of bed in the morning and head to work, face the family, or respond to each of the problems that will arise unpredictably, we have the power of God living inside of us to draw on. He is enough to handle anything and everything. After all, He spoke the world into existence and spins the world.

Picture Explanation: As I went through last week’s pictures I am reminded of how much I love my son and husband. Family is spread out now as adult children are living their own lives. My day-to-day home life is as a family of three. My two men made Mother’s Day special. We stayed home and ate well! (I will never be thin being married to this man.)

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