Faithful Service

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/

The article linked above talks about something that I just spent several months hammering out for myself: sometimes God calls to serve faithfully in a place that we don't really want to be.
I mentioned in a previous post that I have struggled a lot with burnout and feeling trapped at my job, thinking that there must be something else better, that surely I am not supposed to keep showing up to this place that weighs me down so heavily.
And then I realized that my favorite Bible verse, Colossians 3:23, doesn't say, "serve the Lord with all your heart because the work you are doing makes you happy," it says "whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man."
I realized that all the reasons I originally felt called to this place are still valid, and that wherever God places me, my attitude is my own responsibility. I also had lunch with an older, wiser RN who told me that sometimes God puts us in dark places so that we can be a light for Him.
That really hit me, because I felt that my workplace had grown so dark and depressing, and every shift I showed up to felt like another nail in the coffin. I was ready to move on something more exciting and less frustrating, or else announce that this career was over!
Obviously, any job or workplace has politics and drama and everyone has bad days; it's up to us as Christians to maintain a good attitude and hold that eternal perspective: I am serving Christ in whatever I do. Therefore, I should do it well. End of story.
(But not quite end of blog)
I felt that this article validated that which I had already wrestled through on my own; that not every person is called to do things that are exciting or exotic or glamorous. (There's certainly nothing glamorous about cleaning up other people's poop.) But we are all called to serve faithfully, wherever we are and in whatever we do; as the Bible mentions over and over, God wants our hearts; He cares not only about our work, but about the motivation behind it. So wherever we are and whatever we do, let's do it for His glory.