A Job for Roy–Murphy’s Law or Divine?

Times right now are hard for many people. Layoffs, foreclosures, poor health, and family breakups plague people of all ages and cause many to feel utter despair, while others exude joy and peace in spite of these adversities. My friend Roy is such a person. Even though the vicissitudes of life have kicked him a lot lately he carries a smile on his face and speaks a peaceful word to everyone.

We met last summer at the local employment office. While searching online for work I heard a melodious baritone voice make the following inquiry from a nearby computer, “Do you have a pencil I may use?”

Looking up from my computer monitor, I surveyed the room for the source of this wondrously resonant voice. Directly across from where I was seated was Roy, a slender, modestly-dressed gentleman who, like me, was out of work. This gentleman appeared to be someone well-acquainted with hard physical labor, yet he spoke as a genteel scholar with flawless grammar.

Curious, I inquired as to the type of work he was seeking. He informed me that he was searching for ministerial jobs across the southeastern U.S. Roy is a minister now, but in his former life he was a university professor and an assistant to the Governor of the State of Florida. Previously married with a fine house and furnishings, Roy now lives a simple life unfettered by most of the stuff that the rest of us have, want to have, or used to have. The uninformed observer would say that Roy was down on his luck, but Roy would never say that.

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That’s Bad, That’s good

…One day a man bought a stallion, and all of his friends said, “That’s good.” The next day the stallion ran away, and all of his friends said, “That’s bad.” Two weeks later the stallion returned with a herd of mares. His friends said, “That’s good.” The next day his son broke his shoulder when the stallion threw him off. The friends said, “That’s bad.” The next month war broke out. Because the boy was injured, he could not go to war. The friends said, “That’s good.”
-Dan Millman

̒̒̒̒ ̒ all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ̓̓ ̓̓

Romans 8:28(NKJV)

Love and Trust Are Inseparable

Love and trust are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other.

That was the quote on my calendar today and turned on a light in my mind and provided me with an answer to something I struggle with and that is: Loving God but having a hard time trusting him…especially when suffering personal disappointments.

Sometimes I let the struggles or difficulties teach me lessons that God wants to teach me or give me compassion and understanding for others, but often struggles or difficulties, especially those that time hasn’t healed yet, or that don’t make sense at all, turn my heart somewhat “bitter smart”.

I tend to blame myself, others, circumstances or my environment for most of things that go wrong. But the problem is that since I’ve given my life to God and believe what He says in the Bible that “all things work together for good to them that love him” then there must be something wrong with promise or maybe God has made some kind of mistake. I often end up getting upset and angry at Him for allowing bad things to happen to me, especially when I don’t see the “works together for good” part. What this quote clearly says is that if you love God fully you have to trust Him fully.

If you were to pull me off the street and ask me if I love God, I would answer “yes” but if you were to ask me if I trusted God…well, as much as I know what the answer should be…..I wouldn’t be as definite. It really shouldn’t be that way and as the quote says, “Love and trust are inseparable. Love=Trust

All that to say, today’s quote reminded me to love God more by trusting Him. With the end goal of loving and trusting Him fully and completely.