Did you know that one of the most beneficial things that we can do for our emotional and spiritual wellbeing is to work?

According to the Harvard Business Review, those that contribute to society tend to be happier and more satisfied in their lives. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule and we can all agree that work creates stress as well, but generally speaking work is a good thing for us as humans.

Work is a biblical concept as well. From the very beginning of time, Adam and Eve were told to work the land and take care of it. And even as the Israelites were wandering around in the desert for forty years, they were working. Deuteronomy 2:7 says, “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness.”

As a woman who has held corporate jobs, as well as the demanding, yet wonderful job of being a stay at home mother, and now striving to excel in the job of ministry, I can tell you that hard work is never easy, but it is rewarding. Yet, what I’ve learned through three major career shifts is that the biggest component of success is not only hard work, it’s trusting the Lord to lead us in our work.

From as early as my high school years, I was being groomed to be a financial planner. As soon as I arrived on college campus, I was taking business courses and interning so that when I held that diploma in my hand I could hit the ground running. And run, I did. Everything that I did was purposeful. I began working on completing my Certified Financial Planner TM designation even while studying for the Series 7 and other licenses. I dreamed of holding the corner office one day and seeing my title change from “Financial Consultant” to “Senior Vice President.” In the meantime, I fell in love and moved across the country with husband, but I never let up on my work goals. I was on the fast track and nothing could stop me. Until…

My husband and I had not even been married one year when my life changed in an instant. March 8, 2002, started off as an ordinary Friday. After work that day, I anticipated a weekend filled with the laughter of my seventeen-year-old brother, Jeremy, who would be coming to stay with us while my parents vacationed. I had some fun activities planned for us but none of my plans would come to fruition because around dusk that day I received a phone call that my hilarious, larger-than-life brother had been killed in an automobile accident. To say that we were devastated is a gross understatement. We made it through those dark days lifted by the prayers of our friends and the strength that only the Holy Spirit provides.

Yet as hard as the next several years were for me personally, they were extremely productive work-wise. I achieved my goal of becoming a Certified Financial Planner TM and our family started a non-profit to honor Jeremy’s memory. The mission of the non-profit is to sponsor teenagers who need financial assistance in order to attend Christian-based activities, such as mission trips or youth camps, both of which were meaningful in Jeremy’s life. The work that we devoted to The Jeremy Barnhill Foundation for Christian Teens was tremendously healing to our grieving hearts and continues to bless the lives of many to this day.

As one might imagine, my perspective on the brevity of life shifted after the death of my brother and Colossians 3:2 became my new focus, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” So, when our first daughter was born, my husband and I prayed about me leaving my job as a financial planner to stay home to raise her. At first, I was resistant, afraid to leave the life that I had worked so hard to achieve, but after God confirmed it and gave me His peace, the decision was made. Yet to say that this was an easy transition would not be truthful in the least. I found myself grieving again, this time over the loss of my perceived identity in the business world. But as the years progressed, my love for God’s Word increased and I found that my identity is not defined by what kind of job I hold, but rather in Christ. Romans 12:2 from The Message became a lifeline to me and helped me change my entire mindset.

         So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Once I surrendered to this truth, He did indeed change me from the inside out. I began to find such joy and satisfaction in my less glamorous yet deeply rewarding job of being a stay-at-home-mom and God was faithful to bring out the best in me.

We soon added another daughter to our family and once she was enrolled in Kindergarten I knew that I was ready to add a different layer to my work load. She and I set off for school on the same day that year, her backpack filled with crayons and mine with theology books. Over the following three years I obtained my Master of Theological Studies degree while still caring for our young daughters. Even though this this time period was challenging to manage, I had never felt so alive mentally. I soaked up all the material and took my studies seriously. After three years of taking full course loads, I graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and was celebrated by my family and friends who had faithfully prayed me through.

Currently, I am the owner of Reflecting Light Ministries where my mission is to teach women how to shine the light of Christ in whatever season of life they are in at the moment. God has taught me that there is always an opportunity to share my faith, no matter what job I hold. As a Christian in the financial planning industry, I could help my clients plan for retirement as well as eternity. Now raising two daughters I am intentional in sharing my struggles as an imperfect mother, modeling grace and humility because I have a Father who lavishes His mercy on me despite my shortcomings. And finally, as a Christian author, speaker, and Bible teacher I get to shine His light to a dark and hurting world, telling of a Savior who loves extravagantly.

It honors the Lord when we trust Him to guide and direct our work. Just as He watched over the Israelites and established the work of their hands, we can rest assured that He cares about our vocational journey too. As in my case, we may not always end up where we thought we would, but the more that we trust His lead, the more we are satisfied in our work. Additionally, we may have to work through an immense wilderness at times, allowing Him to heal us as we put one foot in front of the other. Wherever we are in our careers, we must believe that with each new work day we have an opportunity to do our jobs with excellence and shine His light along the way.