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Key Bible Verse: The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. (Deuteronomy 33:27) Dig Deeper: Isaiah 40:28-31

When I was newly unemployed, I benefited from small daily doses of work/life wisdom from motivational speaker Jim Rohn via a friend's loaner videotape. Rohn's words rang a bell when he likened our role to the planting of an acorn and God's role to growing the oak tree. Rohn said this is God's promise that he will grow the tree if we will plant the seed—[that is], exercise our gifts.

Then it hit me as forcefully as if God had spoken to me personally, though inaudibly: "If you want to know God's will for your life, look at your gifts. He doesn't play games; like the acorn, you already have the ability to perform whatever is in God's plan for you." I began to have a greater assurance that I had something better under me than an earthly safety net—what Scripture calls the "everlasting arms."

Human resources consultant Ralph T. Mattson wrote in Redeemed Ambition: "Very important signposts in the matter of selecting careers are the gifts [God] has willed into [our] personalities. … All the information with which we need to begin the process of career selection already resides within us. We must tap it."

—Stephen Adams in Back to Work!

My Response: What changes might I need to make in order to pursue a career that's the best match for my gifts and passions?

Thought to Apply: A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage.—Sydney Smith (British writer, clergyman)

Adapted from Back to Work! (Moody, 2009) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2010 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Dear Heavenly Provider, help me to trust in you and not in my ability to earn money; keep me from ever thinking my true value and worth is derived from my career or job title.

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