Gossip

Good, Happy, Sunday morning!

Hopefully you have your work worries on hold for the weekend. I was reading the Bible this morning when I came across a really great Scripture for the workplace.

Proverbs 26:20

Without wood a fire goes out:
Without gossip a quarrel dies down

Sounds like a good verse to take to work on Monday.

Faith Believes

Faith Believes

When I don’t see God’s plan unfolding in my life, it

doesn’t mean there is not a plan. God always has a

strategy and He’s always working out the details.

My life, including my time spent at work, overflows with His

abundance. When I have doubtful moments, God’s blessings are

still all around me, and the biggest one yet may be around the

next corner. I have to trust. I have to have faith.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean

not on your own understanding; in all your ways

acknowledge to him, and he will make your paths

straight.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

 

On a recent fall trip, as my family and I marveled at God’s

beauty revealed through the changing foliage, God gave me an

illustration of faith.

The trees were spectacular, more brilliant than I’d remembered

seeing in years. I felt incredibly blessed and couldn’t believe God

would have timed our trip to coincide perfectly with nature’s

32 | Shari J. Harris

performance; for surely it was the precise moment of peak colors

displayed that day, seemingly just for us!

Looking ahead I saw a particularly colorful patch of trees on a

hillside. I fxed my eyes on the delightful scenery, anticipating the

visual treat a closer view was going to bring. Much to my dismay,

the road suddenly curved and a hillside cropped up completely

blocking my view. I stared longingly at the barren hillside as it

rushed past outside the car window.

It made me think of a work situation. An exciting opportunity

I was looking forward to seemed lost. Although I was counting on

an expected event happening, the opportunity had disappeared

from my view. Doubt clouded my vision so much that I’d lost

all hope of seeing what was once so clearly in my line of sight. A

friend woke me up from my doubt-induced stupor by challenging

me with, “Oh, ye of little faith.”

As we passed the obstacle on that fall drive, God’s splendor

was displayed in full view. Much to my surprise, I had not missed

the vivid scenery I was anticipating. God had timed it such that

I had a front row seat, from a perfect vantage point, at just the

right moment.

God reminded me the beautiful trees were still there when the

hillside temporarily blocked my vision, just as the work opportunity

was still there hidden behind current circumstances.

Nothing could change the fact the trees existed beyond what

my eyes could see. Just as the spectacular fall scenery was always

there, so is God’s good plan for me. It was several months before I

saw the possibility at work again, but it was there just as the trees

on the trip had been.

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares

the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm

you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

 

God has the perfect plan for each one of us. Faith believes this

even when our eyes do not see it. It was several more months, but

the hoped for opportunity became reality. Faith believes God at

all times.