Disruption, Time Away from Family & Making the Most of a Bad Situation
Disruption, time away from family, making the most of a bad situation.
Wonder if these words strike a chord with you as you reflect over this year and head into another unusual Christmas season. As I began to read the narrative of the first Christmas in Luke 2, the above came to mind.
Caesar Augustus disrupted the norm as he ‘decreed that all the world should be registered’. Amazing that our whole world has been disrupted by the pandemic. So Joseph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem to be registered with Mary, far away from family and friends. And if that wasn’t disrupting enough they had to make the most of a bad situation, as we read in verses 6&7, nowhere to stay, Mary in labour… stable, manger, swaddling cloth… baby born!
I mean… that’s a crazy story. I wonder how they felt? Fear, anxiety, frustration….yet they knew GOD. They both had angelic visitations to ‘prepare’ them and then a baby started to grow inside Mary… a miracle! They knew this was real and together their trust and faith in God grew as they supported each other. God had spoken, God was for them and God was ‘literally’ with them…. and yet life was very messy, unsatisfactory and scary.
So I wonder how you feel heading into another unusual, uncertain Christmas season and New Year?
At Transform Work UK we want to encourage you to be courageous like Mary and Joseph. As a believer in Jesus, you have "Christ in you, the HOPE of glory" (Col 1:28). This means that ‘Christ in you' can transform situations for the good in your place of work and with your colleagues. The best gift for your organisation is Jesus. Whatever you are facing or going to face at work or home, the Bible tells us, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)
Our prayer for each and every one of you is that we could continue to be a counter-cultural light in an increasingly gloomy working climate where we hold firmly to the word of life (Phil 2:15&16). The best time to shine is when it’s dark! The more Christ-followers that shine together in work – the greater the impact that light has throughout the workplace to share and experience the miracle of God’s love in our lives.
We have many testimonies of groups of Christians shining together making a difference. From colleagues accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour in a global property firm and being disciplined at work, to a fireman helping his fire service fulfil wellbeing and diversity & inclusion by offering prayer for ALL within the service, to a local authority Christian Group LOVE BOMBING this Christmas time…. Intrigued? Find out more by checking out our latest news channel on our website for more good news.
God Bless you all. Keep praying, keep connected, we need each other during these times.
Love and Blessings,
Ros, Julian and all at Transform Work UK
| Meet Ofonimeh Umoh Abudu, Trustee and Director, who starts of with a few lines of Joy to the Lord and then shares her heart passion for all workplace Christians this Christmas time.
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| Julian Shellard, Chair of the Board, shares a thought this Christmas time. |