The Differences

Recentally, I have been frustrated by how worldly this ship seems -- I don't know, that may sound a little stupid, but somehow I thought that working with Christians would somehow be amazingly different from other jobs that I have had. I was frustrated to find out that I was working with Christians who were human :) Several times today though, I was reminded me of how this work environment is different.
It started by being reminded of was how I need to depend on God for my strength - that I cannot survive on my own. I was talking to someone about Alaska and how I had gotten so stressed by the end of the second year and just was not enjoying it any more. The more and more that I think and reflect on my time in Alaska, the more I see that I tried to do everything on my own and that when I couldn't do it, I got stressed. I was praying the prayer of Jabez (oh, that you would bless me indeed, you would enlarge my territory) but forgetting the second part (that your hand would be with me, that you would keep me from evil so I would not harm others). In talking with this person about my time in Alaska and then with a gentle reminder from Marcel this evening while we were talking, I was reminded to be turning things over to God and trusting Him for everything. In all the other jobs that I have had, it was so easy to walk away from other Christians and not hear what God had to say to me through them - all the little reminders He has to give me. Here, it is impossible :)
Then, the community meeting here tonight was amazing. Community meetings happen twice a week - Tueday morning and Thursday evening. It is not required to attend, but it is highly suggested and I hope that I never get to the point where I have trouble getting up the motivation to attend. The meetings are not always exciting, but to be in a room of 300 people who I work and interact with every day and know that we are all worshiping God is amazing. Tonight was just a reminder that even though we are all human and become frustrated with each other and do things that are frustrating to other people, we are all Christian and because of that, there is a hope that God is still working on all of us, especially myself. Since I got here, God has been changing my reason for being here - yes, I am here to be a teacher, but I am here to love God and in loving God, he will work in my life so that I can work in the lives of others. I think that is the biggest difference in this 'job', I am encouraged not to focus on the job, but on my realtionship with God knowing that if I focus on God, everything else will fall into place.