Or maybe crunching time would describe it better. I think I've written before that as we get closer to the move, everything around base is going to grow in intensity. Well, I was right.
Things have been heaping on lately. One of the biggest things for me in the last couple of months, and especially the last few weeks, has been the added responsibility in leadership, and I get the distinct impression that this is something God is wanting to... educate me in.
For most of this year, Property and Vehicles have had more than enough to do with not enough staff. Even though that's not ideal, I do quite well there. I can just knuckle down and get on with things, bury myself in a job and ignore the world around me. But in the last month, the situation has changed quite dramatically. The first thing that happened is my leader got married and left on his honeymoon, leaving me and another guy in charge of our ministry. That wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that around about the same time, five new people joined Vehicles. So I went from being responsible for just me, to being responsible for a team of six. Big change.
And honestly, my first response was wishing they hadn't joined. After praying all year for more workers, I didn't want them, because it made my life more difficult. And I had a choice: Invest more effort, and enable us to do way more than we could before; or be selfish and ungrateful and waste what God had provided. I knew which one I shouldn't chose, so I decided to invest.
God's grace is amazing. I'd been finding it difficult to keep up with what I was doing already, so I didn't think I could handle any more. But as I took on more than I could handle, His grace kicked in, and it just makes all the difference. It still takes the constant choice to dig deep and do what I need to, but when I make that choice He provides all the strength and grace that I need. I remember that I do know how to lead a team. I do know how to include people in the vision. I do know how to exhort people to serve with excellence. And I do know how to lead by example in getting on my knees and crying out to God to provide us with the wisdom and the strength that we don't have on our own.
I can see the way that He's been targeting different areas in my life. He's challenged my faith for the impossible, my humility and sheer dependance on Him, my prayerfulness, and my love for others before myself. He's really building up my muscles in the area of leadership. And that's exciting, because who knows what His reasons are?! I believe that He is preparing me for whatever it is he has for me in the future, and given the magnitude of the challenge now, I think He has big things up His sleeve.
Please pray for me in this! Just because I've clicked with what He's doing doesn't mean I'm immune to mistakes or making poor choices. Pray that I can lead well, in a way that serves the people that I lead as well as the base a whole, and in a way that honours and pleases God. Pray for our vehicles! At the moment seven of them are off the road (i.e. unable to be driven). Pray for miracles, and for wisdom in how to fix them.
Thank you for your prayers regarding my staff debt- in the last two months it has come down by about $1500! God is still challenging me to keep being active and pushing to see the last $2500 cleared in the near future, so please keep praying with me!
Bless you, and thank you for being fighting with me!
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