Yesterday I started a new Bible Reading plan. It is about how God sees work.

I’ve been really struggling with this area recently. I was left feeling slightly redundant when the last of our 4 children went to school full-time in September.

I focussed on my fitness and managed to lose some weight and train myself to run 10K. (This was some achievement for a couch potato like me. I have never been fit, even as a younger person.) But once I had seen some change in that area, I started to wonder what else God had for me. I worried that perhaps I had missed some precious opening.

The truth is I’m not actually qualified to do much in the world of work. I trained as a teacher but haven’t worked in a classroom for over 11 years. So I feel rather de-skilled in that area. Plus I wasn’t up for going back into teaching.

I started to look around to see what I could do for others and for God.

But it felt as though there was a continual lack of peace about everything I looked into. Some heavily closed doors bruised my nose slightly. Not an easy time.

Then yesterday I started to read this bible reading plan as I needed some revelation. This is what I read.

“Most people spend the majority of their waking hours working, yet have never fully grasped the idea that God created us to work. In fact, work was meant to be a joyful experience in which we are fulfilled in the use of our collective ability to partner with God in the cultivation of resources entrusted to us.

However, in today’s global marketplace, work has a negative connotation and some even believe God is against our work. This just is not true. God is a proponent of good business.

We see an example of this in 2 Kings 4 when a widow approaches Elisha pleading for help. She lost her husband and was about to lose her two children to slavery, but rather than giving her money, God responds through Elisha and puts her to work!

God uses what little she has, a jar of oil, to help her create a profitable business which in turn allows her to pay her debts, keep her children out of slavery, and live on the surplus.

God is for us in our work. He desires for us to use our talents and experiences in our work as an act of worship no matter how insignificant they seem.

We serve a God who used a few drops of oil to launch a successful business. Imagine what might happen if a movement of Christ followers used the gifts God has given them in the marketplace!”

I then watched the video they suggested we watch by Hope International. It’s really quite a stunning piece of film. I strongly recommend it! (see Hope International.com and click on the “Whats in your hands” film – see picture inset.)
Funnily enough as I went to church I felt a real contention in my spirit as though something was about to happen that I wasn’t expecting.

It did. The woman preaching was the fabulous Danielle Strickland who, in my opinion is the finest female speaker of her generation.

Guess what her first question was?

Yup. You guessed it. “What’s in your hand?”

Jon and I exchanged glances. I had told him what I felt God was saying to me. It was amazing to have it said TWICE in 2 hours.

To be honest I look at my hands and can’t see much action right now. I am waiting for God to reveal what might be there. But I think what He might be leading me to think about is this…. DON’T look for something EXTRA. What you need you already have.
That is both comforting and a little frustrating. If I already had the answers all the time it was a bit pointless spending time looking for them!

Watch this space whilst I figure it out, I guess…

One thing Danielle said which was BRILLIANT was that God doesn’t ever use the professional to do his work. Whilst this isn’t always totally true, (Simeon for example) most of the time, he chooses amateurs. This is GREAT news. He doesn’t need superheroes. HE is the superhero. He just needs US.

Maybe like me you need to ask yourself “WHAT’S IN MY HAND?” and if you can’t see anything, keep looking.