The workplace is a mishmash of all sorts of workers. Each of us workers puts forth great efforts for our own future prospects, and fame and gain. Especially when difficulties occur in our work, in order to keep our jobs, we often make connections, present gifts, give dinners, curry favor with our superiors, etc., but always end up feeling physically and mentally exhausted. So, many of us can’t help but have a good wish: It will be wonderful if we can easily resolve the difficulties we encounter in our work without being false, flattering others, or physical and mental exhaustion.

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Recently, when facing her company merger, Xiaoya relied on God to easily resolve the difficulty in her work.

Distracted by Her Work

Xiaoya, heavy-faced, was pacing back and forth in her room, thinking to herself, “Oh, what should I do? What should I do? …” From morning until night, she couldn’t calm down because of being disturbed by a call.

“Hello, Xiaoya. Today our leaders talked about the company merger at the meeting. I heard that the well-connected staff all have sent gifts to the leaders, wanting to be assigned to the nearby First Branch Company, which has better benefits. Now, only you and Xiao Qiang haven’t given gifts or made connections. I heard that you’ve been assigned to the Third Branch Company in a remote area. I said at the meeting that you have to care for your child on your own, so it’s inconvenient for you to work there. I asked the leaders to think about it. However, they said that the postings have come through and thus cannot be changed by anyone. You need to hasten to our leaders and tell them about your actual situation. Besides, you have to go find your uncle who is somebody in the world. If he intervenes on your behalf to cultivate relationships with our leaders and give presents, maybe things will take a turn for the better.”

These words clearly echoing in Xiaoya’s mind, her heart was churning. She thought: “Will I work in the Third Branch Company? Apart from changing buses, the salary is frequently withheld there. This is really not a good place to go. If I work in the Second Branch Company, I will have to work a week before resting at home for a week, so I won’t be able to look after my young child. Furthermore, I will have no time to read God’s words or fulfill my duty. If I work in the First Branch Company, I will be closer to home and have a day off after working one day, and only then will all my problems go away. But now I can’t go work there because of not presenting gifts to the leaders. What am I to do?”

As time wore on, Xiaoya’s figure could be seen everywhere, in the living room, on the sofa, and on the balcony. Her face was full of worry, and she put down and picked up her phone from time to time. Her anxious heart was doing more somersaults than before.

She thought to herself, “My colleague told me to go to our leaders. However, I’m slow of speech and not eloquent, nor do I know how to engage in flattery. If I had known something like this was gonna happen, I would have learnt from others how to fawn on leaders; this way it will be easy for me to ask favor of others. Alas, it’s too late now. I might as well go get my uncle. He has a silver tongue and is capable at handling matters. Maybe his intervening on my behalf to present gifts will work …”

Believing in God’s Sovereignty, No Longer Worrying

“Ring, ring….” Xiaoya strode forward to open the door. It was Sister Qianqian and Sister Xiaoxue who had come over. When they just sat down, they saw the anxiety on Xiaoya’s face and asked with concern, “Sister, what’s the matter with you?”

Then Xiaoya poured out all the difficulties she encountered.

After listening, Xiaoxue fellowshiped to Xiaoya in a gentle voice, “Confronted with such a thing, we should seek more how to act in line with God’s will. Your colleague told you to go to your leaders and your uncle. This is engaging in satanic life philosophies and is displeasing to God. Since we believe in God, we should rely on God, and believe that all things are in God’s hands. God manages everything and has the final say in all things. The thoughts and ideas of every single person are also controlled by God’s hands. Xiaoya, let’s take a look at the words of God.”

Xiaoxue then took a tablet out of her bag, opened it up and read the words of God, “Since the day man came into existence, God has ever worked thus, managing the universe, directing the rules of change for all things and the trajectory of their movement. … Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things.”

She then gave fellowship, saying, “God’s words make it very clear. The fate of every human being is in God’s hands. Where we will work is under the control and arrangement of God’s hands, and it isn’t human beings who have the final say, much less can it be changed through human methods. If God allows us to work in an undesirable place, then this will be what we need because God knows what kind of environment is beneficial to our life. Therefore, in difficult times, we should adopt obedient hearts, rely on God, trust Him, and not act according to the unbelievers’ life principles.”

After hearing God’s words and that sister’s fellowship, Xiaoya’s heart was brightened. She no longer worried about which company she would work in, and was ready to give up asking her uncle to help her with the problem in the work. She was willing to rely on God, let God be her Sovereign, and obey God’s orchestration and arrangements. Xiaoya prayed to God, “O God! In the face of the company’s merger, my colleagues all have given dinners and presented gifts to leaders, while I don’t follow them. As a result, I have been assigned to a remote place to work. O God! Regardless of where I will be assigned to work and what kind of people I will interact with, there will be lessons for me to study, Your good will is behind it all, and I’m willing to obey Your rule and arrangements.”

Worrying Again About the Work, Understanding God’s Will in Her Seeking

After the postings came, the staff temporarily did not start to work in the new companies. Xiaoya’s colleagues were all still discussing about that thing in private, “If we want to be assigned to the company we want to go, the best possible thing to do is to send gifts, give dinners, and make connections.” “That’s right. In this society, those who do not flatter accomplish nothing. We’ll suffer loss without racking our brains.” Sitting at her desk in the corner, Xiaoya was a little swayed by what they said, and she thought, “Except Xiao Qiang and me, they all made it through making connections and sending gifts. Is it right for me not to do that?” Xiaoya frowned as she stared at the computer screen, and her heart was tied up in knots.

At that moment, Xiaoya suddenly recalled what she had said in her prayer before God, and she thought, “Haven’t I said that I would obey God and let God be my Sovereign? But how come I failed to do so and lost faith in God when things really befell me?” Xiaoya could only call on to God to protect her heart from being shaken by her colleagues’ words.

After coming home from work, Xiaoya read a passage of Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, “If one’s faith is merely based on acknowledging God’s existence and he believes that everything else is unrelated to God, is his faith tenable? From God’s perspective, it is not tenable. He is an unbeliever! This is because he does not believe in God’s rule and God’s almightiness, he does not believe that God leads, provides and protects the human race, and moreover, he does not believe that everything that man has is due to God’s bestowment and that it is all predestined by God. His disbeliefs are sufficient to indicate that his heart does not believe in God. He simply acknowledges God’s existence and his heart is still full of all kinds of doubts. If a person only acknowledges God’s existence, that means that within his life, he definitely does not have the reality of believing in God and much less does he have the reality of obeying God. This is because he believes that everything is not related to God and that everything depends on man’s doings. Do you think that a person with this kind of faith can bear witness to God’s deeds? He cannot! Within this person’s heart, God does not have a place. This kind of person nominally believes in God. His mouth will never testify to God’s miraculous deeds.”

This fellowship enabled Xiaoya to suddenly see the light. She understood: Despite the fact that she had believed in God for several months, read God’s words during that period and participated in church life with her brothers and sisters, she didn’t understand God’s authority and sovereignty, had no true faith in God, and her faith was only in words. As a result, when she encountered a real difficulty, she didn’t believe in God’s sovereignty or submit to God’s orchestration, but instead she lived in anxiety and helplessness. She even wanted to be like her colleagues and resolve the difficulty through worldly philosophies, such as sending gifts, giving dinners, and making connections. She realized that believing in God this way, she would never obtain God’s approval.

After gaining some knowledge of herself, she also understood that God meticulously arranged this kind of situation to increase her faith in God. In the future, whatever difficulties occurred, she would believe in God, rely on Him, and practically experience His work, and only in this way would she be able to witness God’s deeds.

She then saw in God’s word: “Since the creation of the world I have begun to predestine and select this group of people, namely, you today. Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement.”

Contemplating God’s words, Xiaoya understood that everyone’s marriage, family, appearance, work, and so on, were all ruled and arranged by God, and that where she would work in the future was even more long ago ordained by God. She thought, “Now that I’ve believed in God and understood God’s intentions in my circumstance, I should believe in God from the bottom of my heart and no longer be of little faith in God.” Coming to this realization, Xiaoya was willing to sincerely believe in God, lean on Him, and entrust her work to God’s sovereignty and arrangements.

Through Entrusting Everything to God, the Difficulty in Her Work Was Resolved

One day, half a month later, the company held a formal meeting to inform the staff where to work. Xiaoya never imagined that she would be actually notified to work in the First Branch Company. She was thrilled and kept thanking God in her heart. In face of the difficulty in work, she just prayed to God, adopted the proper mentality, obeyed God’s arrangements, and didn’t do anything else, but God opened up a way for her—her difficulty was resolved. From this Xiaoya experienced the joy of relying on God, and her faith in God also grew.

After this experience, Xiaoya gained a true appreciation and understanding of God’s authority, and of the fact that God rules over and arranges all things. She truly experienced the practicality of the following words of God, “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. … any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts.” Moreover, she also experienced that it’s right to hand everything over to God in face of difficulties.

Source: Find the Shepherd