If you find yourself unable to submit to the authority over you or would not apply for a position on your current staff, here are some steps you can take:

1. If you are married, this is a joint decision. Prior to this moment, I would hope you’d already engaged in the possibilities and planned for various outcomes. This is your life, your career, and your testimony. Talk it through with your spouse. Discuss all of the possibilities. Set and write down the priorities for your family. If you are single, this is between you and the Lord. Are you ready to make a decision to stay or go? If the decision requires more planning and preparation, place a date on your calendar to make your decision so you aren’t toting around this ‘what if?’ weight every minute of every day as you continue to serve your littles and their bigs, especially throughout the summer which is always filled with tons of kidmin programming.
2. Read your current staff handbook to check if there are any policies you can no longer adhere to. Your next steps should align with your integrity, testimony, and family priorities. Make decisions based on what you know rather than how you feel. Ask yourself challenging ‘what if?’ questions to gain clarity, trusting that God will guide you. Can you now submit to the staff handbook if the organization has changed? You are a representative, an ambassador of that organization by remaining employed there.
3. Pray. The status quo is over. If you need to grieve, cry, yell, be all in your feels, take a day to dedicate your feelings to the Lord. Then rise up the next day trusting our Creator God to walk with you in His ways. He’ll give you a story like nothing you’ve ever experienced. He STILL turns all things for good for those who love Him. We love Him by keeping His commands. Do you trust Him? Really trust Him? When have you ever truly had the opportunity to take a stand for your faith, values, and belief?
4. If there is a movement of the Body of Christ organizing to do something more in line with your values and beliefs, pray for the Lord to place someone to represent you at the tables where you can not be. I prayed for this. God answered in the most awesome way. I pray my heavenly home is next door to hers and her family.
5. Get realistic, personal perspective by reading about the saints who have gone before us like Becoming Elizabeth Elliott, Seven Women: The Secret to Their Greatness, 50 Women Every Christian Should Know, Evidence Not Seen, and The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom. More currently, The Insanity of God and The Insanity of Obedience: Walking With Jesus in Tough Places. What these women and men went and are going through for the cause of Christ is way beyond anything we could ever imagine. Be ready to be humbled, and grateful. Yours is a job decision. Theirs was or is a life and death situation. If you have children, have they ever witnessed you taking a stand for Jesus? It’s time.
6. Preach and teach Jesus straight from the scriptures at every opportunity. Pray for insight, then stick with the Word in all things and in every situation. Memorize, study, and teach the truth faithfully and with a sense of urgency that if you have to dock your boat at another harbor, you have no regrets for any truth of His Word unshared, to be found faithful to the position you hold to make disciples of Jesus Christ until the last minute. Immerse yourself in the scriptures to discern whether you are following God’s truth or a distorted version. The clarity will amaze you.
7. Get your finances in order. When you are debt-free, downsize, and live under your means, you have options.

If you have read this far and have followed even a bit of my story, the miracles continue to happen every single week. The Lord is present and still leads His people by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Challenges still abound. The battle is fierce and worth it. And we are not unique. You have options. Lots more than you think. Need to chat? Reach out to me directly at dedereilly@comcast.net.

Unsure of what happened to spark this post? The multiple phone calls, tears of grief and disappointment, texts, prayers, face-to-face table chats that have happened over the last several weeks as a result of this (25 minutes) and this (a bit longer). The Lord is pouring out His favor and joy on His people today!

One of the songs we’ve been singing on Sunday mornings is “This Little Light of Mine.” The verse we sing is, “Whatcha gonna do with your little light? Let it shine!”

Whatcha gonna do with your little light?

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14