Loretta Gjeltema Home

I didn’t get it. The scripture had resonated. I had written it on a note card and tucked it up on the mirror I used each morning. I read it over and over. My heart answered: “Here I am Lord send me, I will answer the call, I will go, just show me where!’’ Then, I spent years asking God to show me what he wanted, where I should go. The answer stared me in the face every morning as I got up to go to work but I didn’t get it! God was sending me out into the workplace to be his witness, to be his hands and feet.

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:9 NLT

I’m retired now, I don’t get up every morning and go out into the world. I don’t have the same encounters with people who can see my integrity, or lack of, every day. I no longer encounter classes or auditoriums full of students on a nearly weekly basis. The sheer numbers of people I had the opportunity to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus are in my past.

Don’t get me wrong, a great deal of prayer went into my decision to retire. And, although much of my time is spent alone in this life of a writer, I still go out into the world in intentional ways but I’ve changed! Now, I do get it! I know I’m the hands and feet of Jesus as I visit a local grade school each week to help a young teacher friend with fourth graders. And, I know that I’m the one called to encourage my Tuesday ladies as they struggle in a sometimes difficult workplace. I listen and love the members of my exercise classes and we speak of things of real importance rather than superficial pleasantries.

I also know that God has asked me to tell you that I was wrong! Our workplaces are our mission fields. It’s where we “go into the world”. We need to drive or walk or fly to work fully aware that we have been called to go and walk side-by-side with our coworkers, our customers, our clients, our students and our patients. To be the hands and feet of Jesus.

I hope, unlike me, you get it! Where ever you work, whoever you see daily, those are the ones you are called to serve and the place God sends you out to work is precisely the place you are called to.

The beauty is that we don’t have to get it to be where God wants us. God is perfectly capable of placing you in the right spot whether you get it or not. Unfortunately, even though you may not recognize your mission, the enemy does. The more effective you are the harder he will work to undermine the mission. Our commute should be fueled with preparation to go into the world and fight the battles that dilute our witness, that undermine our integrity and fail to offer the light that we are called to carry into the world.

So here’s my question for you today. What do you need to help you as you face your daily mission field? Do you need a prayer warrior? Just ask and I’ll pray for you by name. Put it in the comments below or send me a private note. Do you need a daily encouragement as you drive to work? Or, is there something else you need. I’d really like to know!

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