Putting out fires

Some days go  better than others. Monday was one of those “other” days for me. People were bailing on their responsibilities, leaving me to deal with the mess, and I was extremely frustrated.

When working for a manufacturing company, tradeshows are a huge part of life. I am the tradeshow coordinator, whether I like it or not, so I get to manage all the details and make sure things happen in the right place at the right time. I’ve got it down fairly well and things don’t go wrong as often as they used to. However, there is one unknown factor that I can always count on causing issues. People.

In the grand scheme of things, I realize that one bad day isn’t going to keep me down forever, but in those hours of constant chaos and putting out fires, it feels like the trouble will never end. Here’s the situation. My company is exhibiting at a local tradeshow this week and there was a schedule in place to cover all our needs. That schedule was tossed aside when people higher up on the corporate food chain decided they were not able to live up to their end of the deal. I spent the entire day running around trying to find people to help me fill in those holes.

I needed help and help wasn’t easy to find. Just when I was ready to tell people what I really thought, however blunt and unprofessional it was, I got help from an unexpected source and almost instantly the wind was put back in my sales. I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the Lord for coming through for me.

Then I stopped. In the midst of all that frustration I never paused long enough to seek out the Lord. I didn’t pray for guidance, I didn’t pray for patience and I didn’t ask Him for help. Even though I was upset and frustrated, I tried to handle it on my own.

I am so thankful that God’s faithfulness to us doesn’t depend on our performance. In that moment when help arrived, I knew in my heart that the Lord heard the unspoken plea in my heart and came to my rescue, because He loves me. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 2:11-13:

“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

Dear God, Help me to be faithful in the good times and bad!