It’s the start of the second work week from home. I don’t know how long this will last. I’m believing it will be a heart desire manifested. I know God has a plan. I see His hand moving. I trust His process even though I may not know all the details.

I did come across an opportunity that if I had to work an outside job, I would be okay with it. I researched the company and liked their mission. However, when it came time to apply, I found a couple of things unsettling.

I know many companies ask this question but I find it very off-putting and the one thing that immediately tells me the main question I have about any company:

What is your pay rate at your current job, or previous job, if not working now?

I’ve been in and around executive level positions long enough to know and understand why companies ask this question. Business is business would be their justification. If that helps them sleep at night, so be it.

Here is where I find it off-putting from the applicant side of things. When I see that question, it automatically tells me that company will look at me as a number, not a person.

Do I really want to work for a company that views its employees as another number? Not really.

I’ve worked for those companies. I’ve been the number.

My husband and I plan to employee people one day. Through all of our schooling, training, and experience, we have learned what to do and what not to do. How to view employees and how not to view employees. How to value employees and what it does to quality people when they are not valued.

This question was required for me to even submit my application which was a ridiculous process on its own. It took me 30 minutes of praying and thinking on this very question before I hit submit. I came really close to not submitting because of this one question.

People should not be valued or gauged on what a previous employer paid them. They should be considered based on their knowledge, experience and work ethic. Those three things show in a decent resume. I’ve weeded through piles of resumes before. I know how to pick the ones that look promising and have potential. A quick interview with some key questions can quickly weed out the ones who may have over dramatized on their resumes. People do that? Oh yes, they do.

I believe too many people are working jobs they dislike and are not suited for because we have yet to figure out we don’t have to be miserable in our jobs.

We have yet to figure out people are not numbers.

We have yet to figure out people have worth.

We have yet to figure out when we encourage and give people a chance and hope, we enable them to succeed.

We have yet to figure out we all have talents and abilities and until we are put in position to work within our talents and abilities, we will be miserable.

I’ve watched it carry over generation after generation.

Read through your Facebook feed on a Monday morning and you will see most people dreading the start of their workweek. Why? They have the ability to do something about it but choose to continue in their misery.

My resume does not show my creative abilities. It shows my schooling. It shows my intelligence. It shows my work ethic. It shows my knowledge of computer programs. My resume does not show my hearts desires. God knows though. God leads. He directs. He opens doors. I’ve prayed that He not even open the ones that I don’t have any business walking through.

I have learned so many things through the positions that I have held that are invaluable to me. I have prayed that God show me what I need to retain from those positions that can be applied towards my future endeavors. He never fails.

That’s what has been on my heart this morning.

This week is different from last. If you have been following along, you will remember before my opportunity to work from home came about, God instructed me to write out my schedule and what I thought it should look like. He also instructed me to write out what my schedule at the time was.

Ironically, there wasn’t much difference other than the type of work I would be doing. I didn’t like that. I want more time with Him. Period. I want more time in His Word. More time fellowshipping with Him. He told me to re-work, so I did. I still wasn’t satisfied but I knew that was the schedule I would be trying out last week.

I did. It went pretty well. Come Friday though I didn’t have much more time in the Word or prayer than I did working outside of my home. That disappointed me.

I heard God again. Now that I had spent a week with that particular schedule He instructed me to re-work the schedule and put time with him first. Put praise first, then prayer and then reading in the Word. So I did.

 

So I did. The entire first half of my day this week is being spent with Him. Why not? I have the time. I have the opportunity. I have the ability. Today, was spectacular.

Today,  I woke up at 5:45 like I said I would last night. Mornings have always been a struggle for me. I’m a night owl. I was awake. I didn’t physically get out of bed until about 6:15. I was talking to God.

I got up, took over breakfast from my husband who had it started. We ate. We read our devotional together and the two words of prophesy our Pastor spoke over us. One word came in November before any of these changes were even known and the other was in response to the changes the day they happened. We reviewed our vision journal together and then off to work he went.

I had 15 minutes to wash dishes, clean up the kitchen and position myself to praise and worship God beginning at 7:30.

I’m a pacer. When I want to get in the presence of God and make my personal space available to the Holy Spirit, I pace. I reverence the time and space I’m in and prepare to fellowship with Him.

I started pacing and immediately the Holy Spirit was there. The tears came. The joy was abundant. The peace that is only in Him was present.

I began thanking God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for the work that has been done in my life. I gave Him honor and glory and just talked to Him. He desires a relationship with us. He desires an honored covenant with us. That’s what I did this morning. I honored the covenant I have with Him that will never be broken.

There was no music to make me “feel” like praising Him. There was no music for me to worship Him. I can do both of those things without a stage, without a band, without a choir. I talk to God as if He is the closest and best friend I have, because He is. My husband comes next after that.

I fellowshipped with God.

I read scripture with Him that He directed me to.

I laughed with Him.

We talked about my heart desires.

We talked about how to handle the lies of the enemy.

We talked about what a worm the enemy is.

We talked about the strength I have through Christ.

We talked about everything.

I prayed. I prayed in the Spirit. For those that don’t know what that means, I prayed in tongues. I fellowshipped with my God, my Savior, my Comforter, my Redeemer, my Everything.

God knows. God has it all under control. I have peace with every detail, known and unknown. While I fellowshipped with Him this morning, He was working on my behalf to make a way towards those things we desire together. Rest in Him.

Such sweet rest, IN Him.

Now, I am sitting in our living room, at our dining table (we have no separate dining room so we make do), the windows are open, the temperature is perfect, the sun is shining, birds are singing and occasionally visiting me at the window, the rains have been abundant and the runoff between our house and the neighbors is flowing like living waters creating a sound of rushing water.

He has given me this day. He has made a way. He has blessed me with every moment today. He has provided a home, food, shelter, provision, clothing. He has provided all because He gave it all.

That’s the God I serve. There is none like Him. There are no others like Him. He is the one True God. The only God. Elohim. El Shaddai. Jehovah Rapha. Jehovah Nissi. Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Jireh.

 

Ephesians 2:4-10 (KJV)

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.