Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Trust and Be Thankful; August 23, 2016

This season of life is a challenge to stay positive, but it takes a lot of reminding myself that I've been in it a few times and have come through it OK.

I have a couple of devotionals that I'm doing my best to invest some time in on a regular basis and even that has been tought to focus on sticking with.

Not that I'm discouraged.  It is just tough to stay patient when you feel as if you have a clock ticking down against you.

From Tony Dungy's "Uncommon Life" devotional today, it says the following:

"Proverbs 23:7 says, "As [a man] thinketh, so is he" (KJV).  That Scripture is true in so many ways and settings.  The glass is half empty or the glass is half full.  In any given set of circumstances we face, our own view of them will determine and direct our response.   Our thinking will illuminate what we feel inside -- worry and despair or confidence and hope."

He finishes the entry up with an UNCOMMON KEY > "Thoughts lead to values of the heart, which lead to character and hope.  Guard your thoughts."

The only thing that I know to do with the project that I'm on, which wraps up next Wednesday, is to finish it out strong.

When I was willfully changing jobs in the late 1990s, I was in the second week of a two-week notice and I think I traveled to six or seven hospitals in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the Beaumont area and Corpus Christi.  The last stop was Corpus and I remember staying in the office late and getting home close to midnight.

It is what my Dad taught me about being professional.

I'm doing my best to put my trust in God through this job situation.  Some moments, it wavers and of course, that is when I worry.

To maintain excellent mental health, I have to stay focused on God.

The bottom line, though, is that I need something to do.

I know that the online university acknowledged today that they now have all of my transcripts and are finally evaluating.  Perhaps I can get some classes started this fall and that will take up a lot of my focus outside of work.

The one individual that I was supposed to talk to on Monday saw me today and apologized for being busy and assured me that we would speak this week.

I told them, "I trust you."  And I do.

And if it didn't happen, without me trying to push my way in, I would realize that they didn't think that I was a fit (as I don't want a courtesy interview).  If you don't think that I have the skills to do the job, tell me and I can live with that.

I've had two organizations reach out at the end of the week before last and for various reasons, I haven't heard back from them.  One I had a phone conversation with and the other was a recruiter that I played phone tag with.

The one seems to have discounted me because I was having some technical issues with my laptop and the other because they called when I wasn't at my phone twice.  (I returned those calls, left messages and haven't heard from him.)

In both cases, maybe they aren't individuals that I need to be doing business with.

As believers, we understand that we're going to go through trials and tribulations.  It doesn't mean that they're going to be easy ones either, but I believe that God wants to see how we handle them - by continuing to trust in Him - to ensure that He can trust us with what He gives us (and ministry to do).

Dungy in the desk calendar from the same material that sits on my desk for today writes, "A Super Bowl win with the Bucs would have been wonderful.  I could have used that platform in a tremendous way.  But I think my getting fired had an even greater impact.  It's easy to be gracious when you're getting carried of the field in celebration.  It's more difficult when you're asked to pack up your desk."

For my current customer, I'll do that on Wednesday - not that I have anything there - but that is simply because my contract with them is up.

For my current employer, I don't know when and if a separation will come.  I know I received a calendar invite for monthly meetings Friday or yesterday, but that could be just my Partner getting organized and prepared.

I'm ready for whatever comes my way and I've had three weeks to make some things happen.

There's good that has taken place and my prayer is for something good to come out of all of this.  If not for me, for anybody who might be watching.

I have so much and at times I'm probably not as thankful as I can be.  But I really, really am.

Millions on this Earth have never had any of even the littlest things that I've had.  It is something that we should all keep in mind.

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