Have you ever worked with someone who was jealous of you? In this episode of Fran and Jesus on the Job, Fran discovers that a coworker is not only jealous of her, but seeks to ruin her. As I periodically...

Fran, a single mom with two school-aged kids, has set up a temporary office in the corner of her dining room, and a temporary classroom at the kitchen table for Drew and Alice. She’s hoping the kids will be back in the classroom soon, but not yet.

So, what does a single mom do when she has to wear yet another hat—that’s the question.

As the alarm goes off this Monday morning, Fran wearily drags herself out of bed to face another day at home with two kids. Her children are connected to their teachers at school on-line three days a week, and the other two days they can go to the classroom for 3 hours each day. It’s a new normal for Fran and the kids that is not normal at all. Fran knows the kids are not learning like they should be, their attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and they whine a lot about not being able to see their friends.

After a quiet time with Jesus, Fran pulls on those comfortable jeans and an old shirt, because after all she isn’t going anywhere today so what she wears doesn’t matter.

She tries to let the kids sleep as long as possible—giving her a chance to get some things done before they invade her world. As she enters her new office, she is confronted with a world of work awaiting on her computer. “Good grief—there are 24 new emails just this morning. What time do these people get up to write to me so early?”

Just as she begins to tackle all that, Drew walks in rubbing his sleepy eyes. “Hey, mom, can we have pancakes for breakfast?”

“Drew, we had pancakes yesterday, right, so today let’s do cereal, if that’s ok.” Fran tries not to continually remind them that she has to work from home and they have to give her a break, because after all it’s not their fault. But they truly don’t understand that she has to spend significant time working from home.

“But I like pancakes better. Can’t you make some pancakes?” Drew doesn’t give up easily.

“Pancakes are for weekends, honey. So, your cereal and milk are ready in the kitchen. Please have those today, okay?” Fran struggles to control her urge to lecture him on how she has to work, but that’s not easy to do.

Well, that’s just the beginning of this day for this working-from-home single mom. Fran is learning that these stress-filled times can bring out the worst in her. Her coping abilities are stretched and her patience is challenged. God understands that, and he offers lots of grace at times like these. But she has difficulty giving herself some grace.

Finally, after getting breakfast for the kids, answering all their questions and listening to their complaints, Fran gets them settled this Monday morning, working on their iPads, and she tries to concentrate on the workload piled up on her own computer.

Fran has an important Zoom meeting with her largest client at 10 o’clock so she opens that meeting and three others join her. In the midst of this critical conversation, Alice, her 8 year-old, comes in. “Mom, my iPad is not working right today and Drew won’t help me fix it. Can you fix it?” and she tries to hand her iPad to Fran.

Making apologies to her client, she mutes her screen and quickly tries to resolve Alice’s problem. Drew joins the discussion, making it even more difficult, and finally Fran has to dismiss them. “Hey, guys, you’re just going to have to wait until I’m through with this conference, okay?”

They reluctantly leave the room muttering that she’s always on Zoom, and Fran returns to her meeting. This shifting of focus is one of the most difficult challenges in working from home for Fran. The kids are always there and she feels guilty when she has to continually remind them that she’s working. But going back and forth from one priority to another is just mentally exhausting.

She takes a break for lunch, and checks in with the kids.

Fran, a single mom with two school-aged kids, has set up a temporary office in the corner of her dining room, and a temporary classroom at the kitchen table for Drew and Alice. She’s hoping the kids will be back...

In Hebrews we read that God said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b). And that “never” includes the times when you don’t feel his presence; when instead you feel abandoned and alone.

I love this song by Babbie Mason which says:

God is too wise to be mistaken

God is too good to be unkind

So when you don't understand

When don't see His plan

When you can't trace His hand

Trust His Heart

Can you trust his heart? I think of what Peter said when many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).

Where are you going to go when you’re on hold and life seems like an unending stream of bad news, or when you’ve been waiting and waiting for something good to happen and instead, things got worse? What are your options? I think there are times when you come to the end of your rope, and all that is left for you to do is to decide if you will trust God or not—if you will believe that he loves you or not. Peter and the other disciples were at a breaking point, not understanding what Jesus was up to, wondering if they had made a huge mistake to cast their lot with this Galilean teacher. But Peter got it right: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

That’s what the disciples needed at that time—words of eternal life; truth that Jesus was the way, the truth and the life, and they could trust him for all eternity. And isn’t that what you need when you’re holding on? You need hope that this is not forever; there is an eternity to come and it will be blessed and perfect.

I just want to encourage you—if you’re holding on while you’re on hold—to trust the heart of God; to let go of your doubts and fears and simply choose to believe that God is sovereign, his timing is right, and his love will never let you go—never!

In Hebrews we read that God said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b). And that “never” includes the times when you don’t feel his presence; when instead you feel abandoned and alone. I love this song by Babbie Mason which...

How can you hold on when you’re on hold? As Christ-followers, that is a question we all face—and usually multiple times—in our spiritual journey. We’re in that holding room and we see no light at the end of that tunnel. You’ve been there, haven’t you—maybe you’re there now.

I’m sharing three basic truths from God’s Word that will sustain you when you’re on hold. The first was, Trust in God’s Sovereignty—he is still in control regardless of what it looks like to you. Then number two is Trust in God’s Timing. It is almost always not your timing, but you can trust that he knows better than you.

And then, step three is really critical and that is to Trust in God’s Love. Often when we’re on hold we begin to wonder if God really cares. Maybe you sang, “Jesus loves me, this I know” as a child, but can you really sing it again? Are you at the place where you have begun to doubt that God loves you? You can’t understand why he keeps you in this holding room if he truly loves you!

We know that nothing can separate us from the love of God—nothing! Listen again to this incredible truth from Romans 8:35, 37-39:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You may not feel his love, but it doesn’t change the fact that he still loves you and always will. In Jeremiah 31:3b we read: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Has someone in your life promised to love you or claim they loved you, but it was not a dependable love? It was not everlasting? Please believe that God doesn’t love like people do; he places his love on you and he will never let go. That’s because he doesn’t love you and me because we’re really lovable; he doesn’t love us only when we love him back. He has declared that his love is everlasting and never fails.

If you can believe that, it will help you hold on when you’re on hold.

How can you hold on when you’re on hold? As Christ-followers, that is a question we all face—and usually multiple times—in our spiritual journey. We’re in that holding room and we see no light at the end of that tunnel....

What can you do when you’re on hold—when God has you in a holding room and you feel trapped or helpless or angry—or all of the above?

Step two is to Trust in God’s Timing. Listen to these verses from Psalm 37:5-7:

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

God’s timing often seems so inappropriate to us. What possible good can come from waiting any longer—that’s how we see it. I can look back on my life and see how the waiting periods of my life were there for a purpose—a purpose I did not see or like at the time. But with hindsight, I can now understand that God had a purpose for the delays that seemed so unnecessary to me.

For about four years my church was in the process of opening a residential home for women who have been sexually trafficked or exploited. It was quite a journey, and now we have a beautiful home in just the right place, doing what God has called us to do. But along the way there were two other homes that I thought God wanted us to have, and tried everything possible to make it happen. But the doors closed, and I remember wondering if we would ever find the right house in the right place. Believe me, you run into all kinds of roadblocks when you want to open a home like this. It looked like mission impossible. And then, through one quick reference from one person, I found a house that seemed right, and in incredible speed, we owned that house within a week. When God’s time was right, things moved very quickly, but I couldn’t see that when we were on hold.

Maybe that’s where you are today. You are waiting on God to move and he seems to be quite late. Proverbs 19:2 reminds us that “Desire without knowledge is not good—how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” In other words, impatience will get you in trouble. Running ahead of God is not the way to go. So, can you trust in God’s timing, take your hands off, and wait patiently for him? It’s one of the most important lessons you need to learn if you’re holding on when you’re on hold.

What can you do when you’re on hold—when God has you in a holding room and you feel trapped or helpless or angry—or all of the above? Step two is to Trust in God’s Timing. Listen to these verses from Psalm 37:5-7: Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He […]

Are you in a hold position?  You know, you feel stuck; you can’t move forward or backward and you can’t change it? It can just feel like forever, when you’re holding on, but often this feeling of hopelessness doesn’t show itself outwardly so much as it corrupts you on the inside.

It takes the form of what Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” You keep going, you keep saying the right things and maintaining a semblance of normalcy, but on the inside you’ve truly given up. You’re going through the motions of a marriage or a job; you’re making people think everything’s okay with your children or parents, but in reality you’re emotionally detached; there’s no more fight left in you, and you’re almost at the place where you really don’t care.

I want to share three simple truths that will help you hold on when you’re on hold. And the first one is:  Trust in God’s Sovereignty. That simply means that you continue to believe that nothing happens in God’s universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority. And you believe the same is true in your life. God is sovereign in your life. Therefore, you can trust that in his sovereignty, he will make all things work together for your good, even the evil and wrongs of others and the cruelty of this sin-infested world.

Believe me, I know it’s not easy to trust when you’re on hold, especially when it looks like your world is crumbling around you. I think of a friend who went through years of pain and suffering from an unfaithful husband and a broken marriage, death of two children, another child who walked away from God, and other significant losses. Honestly, she was a Job-story for today, and I often wondered how she made it through. Obviously, all those things left deep scars and hurt, but she turned it into opportunity for her to minister to others. She completed a biblical counseling degree and now she has a voice to help others who are “on hold” because she has walked deep, dark roads. In God’s sovereignty and as only God can do, he turned her sorrow into dancing and has given her a broader, more effective ministry as a result.

If you can put your trust in God’s sovereignty today, regardless of your feelings, and simply repeat that you believe he is still in control, that is step one in holding on while you’re on hold.