Seeking Identity: Jobs

Hello you amazing people!

Preparing for this series has been interesting... Since we last spoke, I have been let go from my job, finalized moving plans, and had a few panic attacks. I wasn't sure which topic to start with but through life's circumstances, I think it is obvious that I need to address finding your identity in your job.

*side note, as I began writing this I received a phone call for a potential job back home, talk about God's unique timing*

In a world where most of our lives is spent earning money, and achieving accomplishments within employment, how can we find balance? Honestly, this is a journey I have not been on for very long so it is all still very new. However, being in the fitness industry, it is challenging to not begin to find your identity in how you look or in how many people come to your class or in how many clients you are training. Therefore, I imagine each job has tasks and or duties you can begin to misplace and find your worth in.

Let's begin to dive into how our mindset should be while spending all of our precious time in a field of earning. "To make to disciples, to make disciples, to make disciples," my version of Matthew 28:19a. First and foremost, we must ground ourselves in the knowledge that everywhere we are is a mission field...a place to share the Gospel. This is especially been helpful for me, as I want so badly to be doing this "full time" (as a career), but technically I can right now. To assist with balance of home and work, viewing not only your co-works as people to be sharing endless love with but also those living in your household. The ability to speak God's name doesn't change from the car to the front porch, it should only increase. Therefore, first and foremost we should wake up everyday expecting to encounter people who need Jesus and prepare ourselves to be bold enough to do so. Will we be perfect at this? No. Your job and all of its stresses will get in the way of divine encounters but that does not excuse you from bringing it to the forefront of your mind both at work and home.

*side note two, I am speaking to myself too. There were many days in my previous job where I lost sight of why I was there and ended up causes more drama than necessary or having to apologize to people because of how I let the job become who I was instead of transforming the job into a field of flourishing for the Gospel.*

So now what? To do some more inner digging, lets bring up that question again..."What are your dreams and why have you chose them?" Is your job, the job you dreamt of as a child? Are you going to work everyday because you want to or because you have to? Are you even pursuing anything besides making money? How is your employer affecting your mental/ emotional/ physical health?

Wow that is a lot of questions but if you begin to get to know ourselves, our desires, our greatest joys then maybe, just MAYBE, we can begin to find who we are within instead of who the job expects us to be. Now, am I telling you to quite your job because you do not like the answers you discovered... of course not! What I do want to encourage is to make the most of your time NOT at work. Begin to take those answers and prepare a plan to activate. You are worth the time it takes to pursue your deepest dreams and desires... We only have one life, so why not push ourselves and become who we were called to be in the first place.. Victors, Overcomers, People of Joy, and most importantly People who Love.

*side note three, you can't love well unless you learn to put God first. This will lead you to know you are loved by Him which then overflows into loving others and yourself... how do you get to love others and yourself? By spending time with them and asking the hard questions.*

Therefore, let's start by going into work everyday not because we have to but because God has charged us, "To make to disciples, to make disciples, to make disciples," my version of Matthew 28:19a. Then as we love well, both ourselves and others we can begin to flourish who we are, and to discover our true identity to then answer, "What are your dreams and why have you chose them?"