The key of trusting God

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I've been struggling a lot at my current job.  Feel like I've been treated poorly, and then had a person brought in who is directly above me.  In all fairness this person has very different strengths and weakness than mine and between the two of us we have a lot of powerful strengths.  If I'm really honest I'm jealous; I don't feel like this person is more valuable or better but she's making 25% more money and is now my boss.  But, it's like my husband John said to me; I'm only meant to follow God's path for me, not to worry about her path or what's happening with her.     I've prayed about getting another job but so far nothing has panned out.  Not to mention that twice now during the past 6 months I've heard a voice that I think might be the Holy Spirit saying but will you trust me in this job?

So in this current set of circumstances I read the following verse this morning that spoke to my heart:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13 (NIV)

I want joy, peace, and hope.  I know from experience that it's not something I can manufacture.  I remembered anew as I read these lines that only the Holy Spirit can produce joy, peace and hope in my life.  Saw anew that the key is trust in God.

There's a line in The Cure that I read not long ago: "Where you are right now is the perfect place for you, or the God of all goodness and power would not allow you to be there".

So I'm here.  I'm seeking by His power in me to trust Him.  I'm trying to every day have an attitude that is open to how God would want me to reach out to the people with whom I work and the patients who it's our job to care for.   Because of this change in my perspective I'm finding little things each day to bring me satisfaction and joy:  When two officers commented on how happy I always seen at work and I could tell them that God is good, when a patient thanks me for caring and helping him, when this new boss looks at me in an odd way and comments on how she just doesn't understand why I'm so nice.

Bill Thrall makes the statement that the process of destiny is humility, submission, obedience, and suffering.  So obviously my current situation puts me in a great place to be part of that process. 

Being a grace giver

There's a book I've been reading, The Cure, that has been quite a journey for me.This is the line of the authors' that captivated me today:

"What if it's less important that anything ever gets fixed than that nothing has to be hidden?"

This concept reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses from Proverbs 28:13 (NASV) that says:

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Yet sometimes people find that the local gathering of Believers, the church, is the hardest place to be real.  Sometimes in our communities of faith there exists an unspoken message that everyone has this list of stuff wrong that they need to get their act together regarding.

I'm grateful beyond words for those very few people in my life who are not that way.  My husband John, and those few friends that I can count on one hand, with whom I can be totally honest.  Because these people in my life understand that Christ did not die on the cross so that we could get into heaven by the skin of our teeth, but while still here on earth we need to work really hard to get it right.  These people show me by their friendship toward me that they know that Christ's work is already completed, and that our life here on earth is about loving each other as we mature into that completed work He has already accomplished in us.  And along the way we, as John would say, give each other a lot of grace.