Let God be God
In January, I said that this was going to be my defining phrase for all of 2020: “Let God be God.” I was going to walk into this year not living in my strength, but living through trust in the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself up for me (Galatians 2:20).
The next sentence I want to write is “and then COVID hit,” but the truth is, although it impacted quite a bit, COVID didn’t change my life all that much. Not initially or obviously anyway.
I’d been looking for a job for months at the start of the year and had a number of interviews that led nowhere. One of these interviews was for a job I thought for sure God would want me at. It was one that merged faith and media- something I feel called to- where I thought I could start a career. A few weeks after the interview, I got the news; I didn’t get the job. No worries, I was used to this at this point. Life goes on; and on it went, with tears and frustration and me throwing in the towel but picking it right back up again because your girl needs money. After a few months of this, I did get a job, through events I can only describe as God’s favour. I was recommended for it by someone who knows me, it is that blend of faith and media that I feel called to, and I have had the most amazing time at work so far. But what made me go ‘yeah, God is definitely in this’, is the fact that the position almost never existed.
This is the story;
The organisation I work for is able to pay me through a grant from a bigger organisation that funds various positions in the Toronto area every summer. One day, I’m at a meeting with my boss and a worker from that organisation, and my boss starts to thank her for her support saying, “I’m so glad you decided to do this, I know you weren’t going to,” to which she responds, “you know this position is the only one we funded this year?” I go, what?, in my head as she begins to recount how they had decided not to fund any positions this year because, COVID. However, she frequently read the newsletters from my boss about the work he does and really believes in it, so she took it to her boss and said, “if we don’t fund anyone this summer, we have to at least fund these people. If not, what are we doing?” Her boss replied, “yeah, sure, let’s do it,” and because of that, I got to have a job for the summer. A job that allows me to work out what God is laying on my heart, that reminds me of who He is, and that really doesn’t feel like work to me.
If that wasn’t enough, I also found out that the job I had interviewed for before didn’t end up happening because, COVID, and this job I’m doing now exists because the organisation I work for realised that they need more of an online presence. How did they come to that realisation? COVID.
This isn’t one of those “God will bring your enemies down and elevate you” messages, it’s a reminder- to you, as well as to myself. I spent a lot of last year and this year worrying about different things, and at this point, 2020 has knocked the wind out of a lot of us; but in my shortness of breath, God has told me- in many different ways- to trust Him enough to surrender my life and live through Jesus: the Perfect One who loves me. You can trust Him because He loves you.
So that’s my message here. Live in Jesus, and let God be God.
Seun