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“Right…but now I’m confused. I’m leaving at the end of the month. If he’s interested in me, he’d have to tell me now or he’d have to go to Lakeside to find me—before I find someone else. I can’t wait for him forever.”
“I hear you say ‘now’ and ‘can’t wait.’ Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, you know. Look up Galatians 5:22-23. Sometimes called ‘long-suffering,’ patience requires us to wait upon the Lord.”
Maggie read Galatians 5:22-23 on her Bible app.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
“I think I’ve been impatient with Levi,” Maggie said. “At the same time, I don’t want to be his fallback or backup plan.”
“I hear you.”
“However, if I leave now, what if I miss out on the opportunity to be with Levi?”
“Now is always a good time to pray and focus on God while you wait for Him to work in Levi,” Mrs. Kim said. “If your relationship is not meant to be, then you will part ways. If Levi needs a wake-up call, let God work in him. If he needs a push, God has hands. He might use you or others to give Levi a nudge, but you wait for God to tell you so. Don’t jump the gun. Rein back your patience. You’re not his conscience nor the Holy Spirit. Pray for God’s perfect will to be done.”
“So what do I do next? Do I move to Lakeside or stay in Atlanta?” Maggie wasn’t sure if anyone could answer that question for her.
“What has God called you to do? Do the last thing He has called you to do until He gives you new instructions.” Mrs. Kim put her shoes back on.
“I believe that the last thing God called me to do was to work in the women’s ministry. However…”
“Is that a ‘but’ you’re tagging on to God’s instruction?”
“Well… I’m not sure if being an assistant is all I’m meant to be. I had a lot of fun organizing events with Tally. Those were the old days.”
“Those days are still here. We just need to get reorganized.” Mrs. Kim smiled. “Interested in the event coordinator position? You can apply for it. Pastor Kim had instructed the staff to try to promote from within before hiring someone from the outside. In the long run, it’s a very cost-effective hiring plan. For example, Tally trained you for five or six years, so it would be better for the church to keep your skillset.”
“Wow. I’ll have to pray about that.” It might mean she didn’t have to move out of the family home—if she could rent it from her parents.
However, it didn’t change the fact that the movers would still need to drive her parents’ stuff to Florida. Mom and Dad were retiring in Florida and wouldn’t be returning to Atlanta.
“Check with HR about the salary and benefits,” Mrs. Kim said. “It’s a different position. You’ll still be in our women’s ministry area, but not at the front desk.”
Oh, yes. That too. If the pay was more, she could potentially buy the family house from her parents. Rent to own or something.
It was an older house, built in the nineteen-fifties, but she could renovate it and modernize the interior. Then she could remain fifteen minutes from church, and serve God in the skill area He had gifted her.
That was the one thing she knew she should have done: obey God at the last call.
It looked like she had messed that one up. She had resigned from her church job, the one she had enjoyed very much, and secured a new job in Florida. It felt like she had abandoned God’s calling for her career.
What to do now?
Then again, if she had stayed in Atlanta, worked and attended the same church as Levi, her heart would continue to break. She would watch Levi date other women and perhaps marry and go on with his life.
Meanwhile, she was stuck in her present state of one-sided love.
At the same time…
Surely she was mature enough to let Levi go. After all, this new ministry work at Midtown made her all excited about serving the Lord in her own home church. If she focused on her career and calling, then she wouldn’t think of Levi much, right?
Would she be able to attend the same church as Levi?
It had only been recently—after Soline had left him—that Levi had consumed Maggie’s thoughts.
Prior to that, Levi and Maggie had been friends for three years.
Things didn’t have to change.
