I don’t know about you, but my heart deceives me. Everyday, I struggle with pride and envy. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t have to undergo heart surgery with the Master Physician, Himself. Typically when you think of trust the next three attributes don’t jump in your head. But they are critical to the intimacy needed in a trusting relationship. Don’t sleep through this surgery today because as a leader, we must be humbled before our teams when admitting our weaknesses, striving to be patient and taking courage!
Admit Weakness/Ask for Help – humble yourself because humility is essential for service to others, Luke 14:11 says the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored. No one expects you to know everything about your area of business but they do expect you to find out. It is acceptable to say “I don’t know but I will find out” it is better to be honest about your weakness rather than hiding it and having it exposed and humiliate you. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. When we don’t admit our weaknesses or refuse to ask for help we make people bigger than God. We start to fear failure and are consumed by what people think. It is much easier to work for an audience of one, our one true God, instead of trying to win everyone else’s approval. Give it a try and see how it will transform your personal and professional life.
Trust involves Patience – Patience, something I turn my nose up too. I work and play at a supernatural level, God blessed me with tremendous organizational skills and a need to keep moving all of the time. People are amazed at the speed I work, but the same thing that amazes some, annoys others. I am beginning to think I should wear a watch with 2 faces, one that says “God’s Time” and the other saying “My time” because like, pride and envy I have to remind myself that God is on a different schedule than I am. God’s patience is an expression of his love for us and it is demonstrated in Luke 15:20 in the Prodigal son story “so he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” I have to remember that I should be patience like God and the Father in this story. I should be waiting on my co-workers, trusting they will make the right choices not demanding they have a 24 hour turnaround time for anything involving me. I was given a patience angel figurine to sit on my desk to have a visual of what sitting still looks like. I think duck tape may be the best option.
Trust often requires Courage – John 16:33 says I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world! I never thought of myself as a courageous person until one day last year my church home team was doing an exercise on encouraging others and one of the men in the group described me this way…”I see a total sense of courage in Tammy, she is never afraid to jump in an do what needs to be done.” I though about that and you know what? He was right. Because courageous people take risks to do what is right, they are bold in representing Christ. Now, my “lack of thought and jumping right in” type of attitude has gotten me in trouble a few times, but God has His way of working everything out to His glory. Does your over analysis paralyze you or does your lack of thought get you into trouble? I think you can have great balance in both. Trust God first, take risks and have courage to do what is right for Him. Join me next week as I talk about how God gives us opportunities to show our creative side.
Risking everything for Him, Tammy