WORKPLACE GRACE

God’s abundant grace is abundantly available for every situation.

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Did you ever look back and wonder, “How did I do that?” or say to yourself, “What just happened? That impossible circumstance just worked out and I don’t know how.” I find myself frequently recounting, often in the course of my work, something that just happened that was definitely more than coincidence with, “That had to have been the Lord!!” Those were not coincidences if you belong to Jesus, they were acts of Divine intervention, freely given, though undeserved, by our loving Heavenly Father. I’ll share some things that should stir up your memories that will help you see that that thing that happened must have been the Lord’s doing. Click the Add Comment at the bottom of the blog so that readers all over the world can also be blessed by what God has done in your life.

Back in the mid to late 1970’s I was a machinist, running large computer controlled machining centers. Back then, machine shops were a far cry from what they are today concerning safety and efficiency, and I thank the Lord to have been a part of that progression. There was a man who ran the machine next to mine who was the kind of person many tried to avoid. He would be ornery, contentious, complaining and OH DID HE STINK! There were different theories as to the cause of that smell but I doubt anyone really knew. We worked in close quarters and the Lord just gave me a love for Herb, compassion and the desire to seem him get to know Jesus. Co-workers would ask me how I could stand that smell. My response was simple, “God just put a Holy Ghost close pin on my nose and really was not bothered by it.” Herb and I worked there for years and somehow I just about always was gracious to him. People who really know me fully understand that that had to have been a gift of special grace because I was not always that way with people. I left that shop in 1985 and heard later on that Herb had given His life to Jesus and was a very changed man. Herb went on to be with the Lord at a young age but you can be sure I’ll see Him in Heaven and thank him for being used of God to build character in my life. 

My next job was teaching in a trade school for a couple of years. I was training people for jobs as CNC operators who could read prints, inspect their work, program the machines and more importantly, how to make it in a machine shop. I had a student who had been tool makers and welders, a homemaker who had never handled a hand drill and everything in between. The only things they had in common was that they were unemployed and were accepted into a Federally funded program. You could add to that list that they had to deal with me. I am not a very good actor but somehow I managed to role play a spectrum of supervisory styles. One week they would be lead by a mean, tyrannical shouting in your face BOSS and the next week an easygoing, caring instructor. After four months with me they were ready for anything. My ability to prepare them in such a way had to have been a supernatural gifting, a work of the grace of God in and through me. After two years the school was shut down because there were no jobs in the Syracuse, NY area for people with these skills. God then extended His grace to me to get through my 1^st dose of being unemployed.

More recently, in fact just a few months ago I experienced a miracle of God’s protection from what could have been a very serious industrial accident. The specifics are confidential but suffice it to say that the Angel of the Lord pushed me away from a very dangerous thing that should not have been airborne toward my mid-section. Jesus so graciously kept me from severe injury and everyone around was told, in no uncertain terms, that the Lord had sent an angel to protect me. To God be the glory, and thanks forever. 

John Wright Follett, one of my favorite Christian authors, wrote an amazing chapter in the book BROKEN BREAD called “Trouble is a Servant.” That someone put on the web as a .txt file, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/follette/broken.txt is truely a blessing. You’ll find the whole book there and you can download it free as a .pdf file too. Every trial, every temptation, every adverse situation we face is our opportunity to experience God’s grace. He gave us the grace to receive enough faith to get saved in the first place, and everything else in the Christian life happens the same way, by grace Through Faith.

Rom. 5:3   We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 

   4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 

   5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (NLT)

Eph.2:8   God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 

9    Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 

10    For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT)

Having a hard time dealing with that boss or coworker? Are the stresses of the workplace wearing you down? Do you think you have too much, or to little work to do? God’s abundant grace is abundantly available for every situation. 

Add your comments, your story below. It won’t go public until I publish it and I am eager to let the world hear your story of God’s grace in your workplace.