Book Excerpt: Produced by Faith by DeVon Franklin
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I base every career decision, big and small, on these precepts. That's not an easy thing to do. There is a lot of temptation in every business from finance to academia to take the quick and easy path to success—to violate our values for promotion or because no one will ever know. I've felt pressure on numerous occasions to abandon my commitment to Christ, but then I remember the words of Jesus when he asked, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"
I can truly say there is nothing in this world worth giving up what I believe in.
I'm amazed at the number of people of all faiths I've met who don't understand that their faith is not an obstacle to fulfilling their dreams but the path to them. They don't understand the power that a total commitment to God grants them.
I spent a great deal of time not long ago with a young aspiring actor who talked about his career struggles: going to auditions, trying to get in to see casting directors, exhausting himself, not knowing what to do, going to church to try to hook up with this or that individual. I listened for a while and then said, "Where do you think God is in all of this? Have you prayed and looked for where he is leading you in your aspiration?"
He hadn't.
He was a Christian, but it never occurred to him that God had a place in his career pursuits.
I know from many of my own experiences that if you put your career in God's hands and trust him, you can't account for all the ways he will bless you. But you have to take that leap of faith, and even if you consider yourself a believer, that can be the hardest part. God's love is unconditional, but we need the faith to silence our own voice and listen to his. Then we can really hear what he's been trying to tell us about our careers all along.
I've written Produced by Faith to help you make that leap of faith. By sharing my story and my testimony of how my faith has actually been the greatest asset in my advancement, I hope to inspire you to take a new view of God's role in your career. At the end of the day, you don't have to choose between your faith and your work. Faith and works are two sides of the same coin.
I can truly say there is nothing in this world worth giving up what I believe in.
I'm amazed at the number of people of all faiths I've met who don't understand that their faith is not an obstacle to fulfilling their dreams but the path to them. They don't understand the power that a total commitment to God grants them.
I spent a great deal of time not long ago with a young aspiring actor who talked about his career struggles: going to auditions, trying to get in to see casting directors, exhausting himself, not knowing what to do, going to church to try to hook up with this or that individual. I listened for a while and then said, "Where do you think God is in all of this? Have you prayed and looked for where he is leading you in your aspiration?"
He hadn't.
He was a Christian, but it never occurred to him that God had a place in his career pursuits.
I know from many of my own experiences that if you put your career in God's hands and trust him, you can't account for all the ways he will bless you. But you have to take that leap of faith, and even if you consider yourself a believer, that can be the hardest part. God's love is unconditional, but we need the faith to silence our own voice and listen to his. Then we can really hear what he's been trying to tell us about our careers all along.
I've written Produced by Faith to help you make that leap of faith. By sharing my story and my testimony of how my faith has actually been the greatest asset in my advancement, I hope to inspire you to take a new view of God's role in your career. At the end of the day, you don't have to choose between your faith and your work. Faith and works are two sides of the same coin.
