Saturday 24 January 2015

Promotion Beyond Ability

When I received a phone call back in December telling me I had a new job in Sydney, I was under the impression that it was a similar position to what I'd been doing before. I thought I'd be looking after health and safety issues for a small building project and would just be sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

However, the first day in proved otherwise. It was nothing like what had been described to me and very quickly I realised that the role was for Project Manager for a $4million redevelopment of a large warehouse. To be honest I felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights; a fish out of water - or whatever you want to call it.

After five days of full-on information I was starting to really doubt myself and felt so under pressure that I wasn't sure if this job was right for me. I was panicking because we'd just taken on a really expensive rental in Sydney's Northern Beaches and I didn't want to be in the position of looking for another job. It's amazing isn't it, how in times of doubt we default to fear instead of defaulting to faith? I had SO defaulted to fear and was letting my mind go on and tell me things I didn't want my heart to hear.

As a family, when times like these have come up, we've learnt to dig deep and put our trust fully in God for His wisdom - I mean what else is there left to do? If I started to reason with my human understanding I would have given up but there is something about our faith and God's faithfulness to us that works. It just does. So as we began to pray, the peace of God flooded me and I just felt much more at ease about the whole thing. Well, that is until I was told what my client's Project Manager was like.

He was described as the most difficult human being to deal with and that if he didn't like your character he would simply ask you to leave. Great, nice one. Haha. I must admit the feeling of unease began to come back pretty quick but I kept telling myself; "But you haven't met the guy yet!" Sometimes we let thoughts of what hasn't happened to cloud our judgment on someone or something. But the next day after I heard this I met the guy - he was exactly as he was described. Well, maybe a bit worse!

I quickly began to pray for him and ask God to give me a bit of an insight into the guys life and just felt that he would be OK. God has been very kind to me over the years by allowing me to get on with people that other people fear. You see, when you fear God and want to be obedient to His every command, people in authority on earth somehow lose their bigness compared to God and therefore I tend not to fear people and their status.

So already, only a few weeks into a six month project, I have started to be able to understand this guy and the job more and God has been the mastermind of it all - I am convinced of this. Here are the reasons why:

1) I have never ran a project this large and somehow know what to say at the right times to the right people.

2) I have been asked to chair meetings about issues which are massive but somehow I have been able to do this with confidence and peace.

3) I have been asked to plan and make decisions for large contractors and somehow the decisions I'm making are working.

I know I shouldn't doubt myself and my own ability but this is seriously the biggest job I've ever been given but God is helping me though it better than I could ever have thought of. I am convinced He has put me into this job in order for me to learn more responsibility and to learn that all I need in life is God. He is everything.

Last Sunday my wife had a prophetic word for some people in the church who were facing big things and to know that God is all we need in massive situations that we can't see a way out of. She was right and it really spoke to me this week. I truly believe that if we claim supernatural wisdom over our own ability the God gives us the ability we need to overcome almost unsurmountable problems. It is truly incredible.

So in closing I just feel like this blog post is going to be a massive encouragement to people facing tough decisions or tough work situations. I feel like God wants to say to you that He is the Lord over your situation and wants you to know that He is your breakthrough. I have had to let go and let God and He has done more that I ever thought and I know that even though there maybe more tough times ahead, He will see me through. He wants you to know that this is the same for things you are facing. He is good all the time and is always faithful and always sovereign.

May God bless you this week.