I just sat there. Stunned.  All I could think was, “you’ve got to be kidding me! They’re laying me off and giving my job back to the person I replaced?” As the HR person went on to explain whatever it is she had to say, my mind kept swirling with, “It isn’t fair!  She’s the one who breaks all the rules! I had the perfect job with all this great potential and now what am I going to do? I’m hundreds of miles from home and have rent to pay, groceries to buy, and no job….how on earth will I ever be able to survive this? What will I tell everyone so they don’t think I’m a complete loser?”

Looking back I realize that every one of those responses falls in line with someone who has a scarcity mentality.  I thought the situation was permanent and I’d never recover from the setback, I immediately began telling myself I wasn’t cut out for the professional work I aspired to do, and lastly, I was actually envious of the girl who was staying with the company forgetting about the impact it would have on her to have to take a demotion to take back the job I was vacating.  It was all about me and it just felt so unfair.  

What I realize now is that situation didn’t happen to me.  It happened for me.  God could see what I didn’t see until much later.  I was really a terrible clerk.  I couldn’t type worth a darn and as a result it took me longer to complete a set of documents. And my finished products were still riddled with errors.  

Besides that, when I thought about the argument about the other girl breaking all the rules, I quickly realized that even though she was taking longer breaks and lunches that she should have, I was doing it too and, even though she was my mentor, I should have followed my own conscious and been more diligent about monitoring my work time.  I could not blame that on her.  

That former me reminds me of a toddler sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by all sorts of toys, games, and books, but they’re throwing a fit because they are being told to share the one they have in their hand. They knew the time was coming where they’d have to share, but they simply aren’t ready to let it go.  

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? We’ve all clung to something that was ours and were unwilling to give it up. Maybe it isn’t the toy you are asked to share. Maybe it is changing a habit we know isn’t serving us anymore, but we are unwilling to let it go.  Or maybe, like me in the story earlier, it’s keeping a job that really doesn’t put our talents abilities for their best use.  But we don’t leave it because we aren’t sure we’re capable of something better.  

The idea of change scares us to death and rather than stretching ourselves and doing something that is a little frightening, we cling to the job we have.  Even though it sucks the life out of us, bores us to tears, or even encourages us to do things we know are wrong.  We aren’t willing to give up what we have and explore the other treasures and avenues that are all around us.  When I put it that way, we sound a little bit like the toddler, don’t we? 

Both of these examples reveal a scarcity mentality.  Anytime we focus on and believe in the idea that there is only a limited supply of money, time, even healthy relationships, we are living in scarcity.  Having this mentality causes us to focus almost entirely on our unfulfilled wants and needs.  It causes us to make unhealthy choices that may be rewarding for the short term but can be disastrous to the future we really want.  

To explore this further, let’s go back to the child throwing a tantrum over the toy he is being asked to share.  They are so focused on the gratification of keeping what they have in hand and making sure that no one else gets it, they forget that there are probably dozens of other toys within arms reach to play with.  Some of which are significantly better than the one they currently have.  

Although the job situation I described earlier seems vastly different, it really isn’t. My mentality that things were simply the way they were and, even though I really wasn’t happy and kept thinking about returning to get my degree, I didn’t.  I was afraid to rock the boat instead of going after that thing that could really make me happy.  My fear of the unknown was keeping me from doing what I now know was what God wanted me to do.  

Fortunately, God allowed the situation to work itself out and I was forced to make a change.  Guess what I did?  I moved home and started working on that college degree.  It wasn’t the straightest path nor was it the easiest journey, but eventually I got that degree and will always be grateful that I did.  

When we get stuck or refuse to take action and reach for something different, it probably is keeping us from living out the purpose for which we were created.  I see it all the time and it makes me sad.  We are born with so much potential, and God has given us every gift and opportunity to step into the amazing life he created us for.  But, because we are fearful of putting ourselves out there and embarrassing ourselves, we don’t even try. We settle for less than what we are capable of. In my situation I was a terrible administrative assistant, but as it turns out, I was a pretty good leader.  

If it makes me sad when we settle for average, can you imagine how sad that makes God? He’s designed the perfect life for us and we choose to play it safe instead of going for it.  It’s a little bit like him preparing a four-course meal and us choosing to eat potato chips for dinner instead of the beautiful banquet he has laid out for us.    

Believe me, I’m not judging you if you are holding back on making a change that’s been nagging at you.  I’ve done it hundreds of times myself.  In fact, I almost did it again a few years ago when I took the leap and retired from my career in housing.  I’ve talked about it several times in past episodes, so I won’t go into all the details now, but suffice it to say that I was really afraid of letting go of my six-figure income to completely reinvent my life and start a whole new path.  Even though I loved what I did, the stress was robbing me of my joy and my health. It would have been easier to stay and stick it out a few more years, but I was being haunted by the knowledge that he wanted more from me. 

To completely put my faith in God and follow what I know he had laid on my heart as a new path to take was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made.  I’ll be honest; it hasn’t been easy.  I had a lot to learn about my new career. What I hadn’t counted on was also having to learned so much about running a business.  Who knew it could be so challenging?  Ironically, even though I believe without a doubt that I am doing what God asked me to. I just doesn’t look like I thought it would. And, as hard as it is to admit, it has not been a great financial move for me.  

I realize now that this journey has never been about the money, that is just what it took for me to step away from the old life I was clinging to.  Instead, it has been about me getting really grounded in who I am and what I believe in.  It’s about my gaining confidence to make choices that are fully in alignment with what I value in life.  It’s also been about learning to let go of the things I’ve been clutching in my grip that has been holding me back.  

Like the feeling that I’m not good enough.  And the belief that no one will ever pay me to be their mentor and coach because what I have to offer won’t be of value to others.  Or the crazy idea that people won’t like me if I talk about biblical truths and challenge them to change the way they do life.  But with the incredible gift of immersing myself in scripture combined with transformational coaching, I’ve learned that each one of those ideas or beliefs were lies that I’d been told and had been retelling to myself that simply were not true.  I’d been convinced that I had to cling to all that old baggage because not knowing what was around the corner wasn’t worth the risk.  Which in itself is just another lie.  

Don’t get me wrong, I love my new life.  But it’s been a rollercoaster.  Truly, it’s been a painful process of trying things, failing, trying something new and still not succeeding. But then, every time I decide this isn’t for me and I must have misunderstood God’s intent, I have an amazing coaching session with a client. And when we are done with that session, I know with all my heart that God touched them through our conversation and they walked away with exactly what they needed in that moment.  It feels so fulfilling to have been able to walk that journey with them and know that at least for now I am exactly on the path God wants me to be on.  

You see, all of those things we tell ourselves are just untruths the devil uses to keep us from living up to our full potential. We’d all love it if we could have a great life and do so without having to face down our fears, but we learn from scripture that the fear of God can lead to a fearless life. What they mean by that is if we respect and revere God as the almighty Lord he is, we will fully trust in him and discover that our fears are unfounded.  He’ll take care of us in every circumstance.  Even when we let go of that thing that makes us feel secure, whether it is a job, a relationship, or a belief about ourselves. 

In reality, if its work-related, it is almost never the job that makes us hate going to work.  It’s usually some other underlying thing we dread. And for that reason, I am not an advocate for just quitting a job without exploring the root of the problem and then having a plan if it truly is the job.  We can have faith in God and take steps to gain a better life and a healthier future without putting our families and our homes in jeopardy.  Besides, since it isn’t typically the job, a few changes of our perspective about the job, or the people there may be all it takes to turn your workplace from a place we dread to a place we are excited to get back to on Monday morning.  Wouldn’t that be great? 

I now know how to make the changes that would have made my previous great job a fabulous job.  Just by making the changes, I would make with my new knowledge about life. I’ve realized that I wasn’t called to change careers because I needed to get away from anything, but rather to help others make a greater impact in their work, home, and community.  To live out their full potential where God has placed them.  

I love Solomon’s attitude about the scarcity mentality in the first verse of Ecclesiastes chapter 11 where he says, “Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.” And a few verses later where he says, “God’s ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind and as mysterious as a baby being formed in a mother’s womb.  Be sure to stay busy and plant a variety of crops, for you never know which will grow – perhaps they all will.”  My bible’s footnotes on these verses summarize this to mean, life is full of both risk and opportunity.  We don’t know what the outcome will be, so we must be prepared.  

I love how it interprets this to say that we give generously because we must seize the opportunities that life gives us when they come along.  Just because life is uncertain does not mean we should do nothing.  Instead, we need to have a spirit of trust and adventure, facing life’s risks and opportunities with God-directed enthusiasm and faith.  God didn’t create us to have a spirit of fear and timidity.  He wants us to trust him and act courageously in confidence that he will protect us and he will provide what we need when we need it. 

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that money is the root of all evil, right?  What if I told you that isn’t exactly true?  If you read 1 Timothy 6:10, it says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”   Money itself is simply a tool we use unless we put our desire for money above our desire and commitment to God.  This has been a tough one for me to get into perspective in this stage of my life.  It’s been hard to make a living without focusing on money.  

But I have made a conscious effort to focus on making the kingdom of God the most important thing in my life and I can truthfully say that I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled.  It was only after I quit looking at those around me and worrying about how successful they are or how many clients they have, or how much I love their website, or envied their vacations was I really able to be content with my life and what I have. I really wish I’d known that 20 years ago. 

Once we realize that God wants us to have an abundant life and he wants us to be happy, we can stop living in scarcity and start looking at the world as an opportunity.  An opportunity to serve, to love, to forgive, to be content, and to live in peace.  Like that toddler throwing a tantrum, God isn’t going to give us all of that until we let go of the thing he has asked us to hand over to him and trust that the thing he wants to give us is so much better.  

So, let me ask you, are you living in contentment and peace?  Do you love what you are doing and who you are doing it with?  If you are struggling, what do you think you might have to let go of to get on track?  It could be something as simple as stop comparing and judging or a difficult as completely reinventing your life.  

If you are getting recurring thoughts that something isn’t right in your life, it is time to take action.  Life literally is too short to live day in and day out in discontentment.  So look around, see what changes you can make to start loving your life, and fulfilling your purpose. Don’t try to change 10 things at once, just pick one and see how it goes. Then add another and then another. Your path is different than everyone else’s path, so please don’t try to do what I did or what someone else is doing.  Trust me, it won’t work for you.  

I know it isn’t always as easy as it sounds, so if you need some help with that, let me know.  In one conversation you can get an idea of what your path might look like.  

You can find me at vonajohnson.com.  

While you are there, be sure to download my free, 7 Mistakes Christians Make at Work poster.  It’s a great reminder of the topics we’ve been discussing in this series and my Faith at Work series of FaceBook Lives that I do on Thursday mornings at 10:05 central where I give additional insight on this topic in a quick 5-minute format.  

Thank you for stopping by. Your time is precious and I am grateful you spent this part of your day with me.  If you know someone who might need to hear this message, please share a link to my website or the podcast with them.  If you want to hear more, be sure to subscribe to Reviving Your Soul or subscribe to my newsletter at vonajohnson.com so you’ll receive notifications when each episode is released.  

So go, live the abundant life you were created for and have an amazing day!