Faith & Leadership Series: Serve Where You Are

For awhile now, I’ve been wanting to include a lot more under my leadership tab, but I just felt I was stuck. I wasn’t inspired. At the same time, I want my blog and my thoughts to be reflective of who I truly am and appeal to other women like me—those who have a big job with leadership aspirations or are currently leading, love to shop, need professional dress ideas, and love to spend time in their home, outside, and doing fun things! So I definitely did not want to leave out leadership!

As I started my Read the Bible in a Year Challenge, I ended up getting new inspiration. The more I read my Bible, the more I found so much motivation for my own life in all aspects, leadership included. As a result, I decided to start a Faith & Leadership Series on the blog and renamed this tab—Leadership, Faith, & Inspiration. I always try to lead daily based on my foundation of Christian principles, and since this directs how I lead, I wanted to write about ideas as they came up and how I am applying (or trying to apply!) in my daily life. In addition to this series, I will be including other thoughts on faith and life with other inspirational posts that do not always directly relate to leadership as well. Regardless of where you stand or if you are a Christian or not, I think so many of these thoughts and life lessons are practical and applicable to all.

By no means am I even meeting the standards or expectations set out for us, but I’m trying my best to apply what I’ve learned to frame my mindset daily.

When I started my Read the Bible in a Year Challenge, my plan included a daily reading with a blend of Old and New Testament passages. Basically, I’m reading the Old Testament and New Testament in order with a small passage from each daily. As a result, I started in Genesis and in Matthew. I’m learning daily lessons from each reading and will be sharing thoughts with you throughout the year. :)

SERVE WHERE YOU ARE

I’m pretty much a Type A person—super organized, driven, love routine, always busy, looking for the next opportunity to be creative and innovative. Along with that driven personality comes the questions of how do I continue to advance myself or what is the next step for me? If you are anything like me, you know what I’m talking about. Patience has never been my virtue, even if I’m unsure of what direction I’m going. For my entire life, I have always felt that because I’m not patient, I’m certainly tested in this area on the daily, and that every passage in the Bible on patience was written for me!

If you have never really had the opportunity to read the book of Genesis, you need to, as it is actually quite an entertaining and intriguing story (it has everything—violence, romance, sex, family challenges—you name it, it’s in there). As I have been reading through Genesis, I have found so many great examples of patience, but there is one that specifically stuck out to me, especially as this particular individual was serving where he was.

In Genesis 39-41, Jacob’s son, Joseph, ended up being sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers (i’m telling you, it’s a really intriguing book!). Joseph was blessed and during his time as a servant, he was in charge of the entire household, sharpening his leadership skills. After some false accusations, Joseph was thrown into prison but was also blessed during his time in prison, as he was put in charge of the prison by the prison warden! This again allowed Joseph to serve where he was and sharpen his skill set for what was to come. Joseph was later recognized by the Pharaoh after a turn of events and was highly regarded in Egypt as second in command to the Pharaoh. However, prior to that, Joseph was in prison for a total of 13 years! He waited for his opportunity, but during that time period of being a slave and prisoner, Joseph was given the opportunity to SERVE WHERE HE WAS. By doing so, Joseph was only preparing himself for what was to come, although the situation may have been less than ideal.

As I read this, the main theme of SERVE WHERE YOU ARE permeated the readings. Here are a few takeaways:

Joseph was in a situation that resulted in a long period of waiting to reach his ultimate goal. In the meantime, Joseph served where he was, which allowed him to sharpen his skillset for greater responsibility of what was to come.
In addition, Joseph made differences in the lives of those he surrounded, as he was able to be an example to those he served, as well as those he supervised.
Joseph found fulfillment and kept himself busy with other tasks in the meantime of waiting for the goal or the final outcome.
Lastly, Joseph trusted the Lord in everything he did. This can be hard at times, especially when you are continually waiting. As a result, he was richly blessed in the interim and in the future. Be sure to take account of what your current blessings are.

I am remembering this lesson, especially when I’m unsure of my next step or what the future holds (in my career and all aspects of my life). So, regardless of what you are waiting for—whether it is a job promotion, a leadership opportunity, relocation to a new area, or even things in your personal life (e.g., adding to your family, to find The One)—be sure to remember to Serve Where You Are. If you do, you might find your greatest dreams come true, as you prepare for the next step and find fulfillment in your present situation.

Below, I’ve linked up the Bibles I’ve been using for my studies, as well as some other items in the photos. :).