I love this life. I love living for God. It is more exciting and fulfilling all the time. The more I seek God, dedicate myself to him, surrender to him, obey him, and spend time with Him the more my thoughts, expectations, and reactions are changed.
I encounter a lot of challenges in life and business. I am a sales manager in the software industry. In 2007 we had a lot of challenges, conflict, politics, and almost insurmountable problems. On top of that the reps who work with me faced a lot of pressures and frankly they did not always react to the pressures in a helpful or positive way. So, I had to deal with the issues themselves plus reps, who at times, were near-revolt. It was quite time-consuming, frustrating, and difficult to deal with all the problems that occurred. On top of that we had to digest having our company be acquired by one of our top competitors. If I blogged every time in 2007 I faced incredible personal stress and pressure this would have been a very active Website indeed.
As I look back at the previous sales year (our sales year ended 1/31/08) I can outline any one of the pressures I faced in the same way. I can provide any one of the challenges as an example to you of how they all went. The reason I can do this is not because each of the fights, conflicts, or problems were the same. They were not the same and spanned many different types of situations. The sense in which they were the same comes from the fact that I was able to apply the same method of resolution to each of them... and they all had the same outcome. Put simply, the remedy was applying a lifestyle of prayer and trust to each of the issues. The resolution was the same to each of them- none of them were fatal, God helped me with each of them and they all worked out. Also, I was able to be a light, a witness, and a blessing through the way I handled each situation.
Here is how any one of these situations would unfold: The conflict, attack, or issue would present itself. I would immediately have the mental and spiritual pressure on my mind and heart. I would possibly have worry or even panic turning around in my mind for a brief time. Parallel to this my employees would be vocally complaining and airing their concerns about the situation. Often, they would use the coping mechanism of biting sarcasm to deal with the situation. They would all encourage each other in a negative way and it would foment a worse employee morale situation. By faith, I would address them and try to encourage them and stimulate them to helpful and proactive thinking. They would often resist the positive outreach for a period of time.
Privately, I would seek the Lord about both the issue at-hand as well as for the peace I needed my employees to receive. I would often do this at my lunch time prayer and devotion session or if I was particularly distressed I would go spend 5 minutes praying alone in a company conference room. I would present my request to the Lord in prayer for help, express my dedication of firm and determined faith in him, and thank him for his help.
Through the course of time ideas would come up in some way to deal with the problem and things would eventually be resolved. Sometimes a decision would be changed, sometimes it would be modified, or sometimes the decision would stand that had caused all the pain and fear but it would not turn out to be a severe problem. No matter what, the issue would be resolved and myself and my team/s would be protected. This happened multiple times throughout 2007. Any issue that came up, any conflict, any threat to our existence that came against us - this was the same process and the same outcome.
The Lord was the universal cure. He was the faithful one I was able to call upon in my time of need. He taught me how to do battle, how to resolve conflicts, how to be a leader in the storm, and much more. He caused good, or at least neutrality, to come from each situation. In addition to this I was able to be a bold witness to God because I made it very clear that I was trusting in the Lord and praying about the situation. I made it clear that he had helped us when the situation was resolved.
The refining fires of 2007 caused me a lot of pain but through the grace of God they helped me to grow in him, trust in him more, and taught me to do battle. The enemy of our souls was out to get me but the Lord helped me and I was able to support my business, support my reps, and was blessed right in the midst of conflict and battle.
Living for God is not some segmented thing we do on a Sunday morning. Living for God, for me, is increasingly an exciting adventure. I feel that I am living in an exciting story in which I am an actor. I am surrounded by bullets but I know they cannot kill me. I get all the drama of conflict but I get the happy ending to any story line I am faced with.
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