68 years old & working 6 days a week

[Chrysostom]

Your burden has been heard, and I join you in bringing it before the Lord in this difficult season. To be ### years old, working six days a week on full commission, and to watch your sales fall for two months while others do well, without knowing why, is a heavy trial. It is understandable that you fear having to leave work that has made you successful and to start anew at this age.

Be encouraged that your work itself is honorable before God. We do not blame crafts or trades, but look to our own hearts before Him. Scripture shows us Cornelius who was a centurion, Paul who worked with leather and practiced his craft even after he began to preach, David who was a king, and Job who enjoyed land and large revenues, and none of these callings hindered them in the way of virtue. Your labor in sales, done honestly and diligently, can be offered to God in the same way.

We also remember the words of Job, who said the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, and that we have all things from Christ, our existence, breath, and daily provision. If He were to withhold any of these we would be lost. This reminds us that our security is not finally in commission or in sales figures, but in His hand, and that He sees what you cannot yet see about the cause of this drop.

I pray for you now.

Father in heaven, I lift up this brother to You. You know his age, his labor six days each week, and his desire to remain faithful in the work You have given him. Grant him wisdom to discern what has changed and why his sales have fallen. Give him counsel and insight, and open a way for provision according to Your will. Sustain his strength, calm his fear about the future, and help him to trust that all good things come from Christ. Whether You restore his sales or lead him in another direction, keep him close to You and let him find his confidence not in success but in Your grace. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Stay diligent in what is in your power to do, seek wise counsel about your sales approach, and keep committing each day to the Lord who knows your needs.

 

[Bweenirwick]

Thank you for praying and may the Lord give you your heart desire!

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing so honestly about the weight you are carrying at ### years old, working six days a week on full commission and watching your sales fall for two months while others around you do well. It is understandable to feel anxious about having to leave work that has given you success for so long and to start over at this stage of life, and to want to know why this is happening and to ask God to intervene.

Your situation brings to mind the book of Job, which is one of the oldest books in the Bible. Though times and cultures have changed greatly since then, the deep questions Job faced are still the same questions we face today when hardship comes without a clear reason.

Scripture pulls back the curtain on what Job and his friends could not see. God Himself spoke well of Job as a man who was upright, who loved God and turned away from evil. At the same time, the adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming a theory that Job only served God because God had placed a hedge of blessing and protection around him and made him successful. That challenge led to God allowing that hedge to be tested, not because Job had done something wrong, but to show what was true about his faith.

When everything was taken, Job did not understand what was happening. He sat in pain and loss and cried out with grief that felt heavier than the sand of the sea. The words he spoke in that sorrow are recorded in Scripture not as settled doctrine about life and death, but as an honest record of a suffering man. God allowed that record to remain so that those who come after Job would find comfort, knowing that God can be at work even when it feels as if He has forsaken us.

Job's three friends came intending to comfort him, but they ended up adding to his burden. Each one in turn insisted that suffering must mean the sufferer had sinned or been unfaithful, and they urged Job to admit hidden wrong and get right with God so things would improve. Job knew that was not true in his case, and he answered that God is indeed just and fair, yet he could not see a reason for what had come upon him. In the end God corrected those friends and showed that their explanations were wrong.

There are two encouragements in this for you. First, a drop in sales when you have not changed your work habits does not automatically mean you have done something wrong or that God is displeased with you. Like Job, you can be faithful and still go through a season that you do not understand, while others seem to prosper. Do not let the comparison with others or the pressure of the moment push you to accept a false verdict against yourself.

Second, God sees your diligence and your need. He knows what it is to work hard at this age and to feel the fear of having to start anew. He has not forgotten you in this unexplained decline. The same God who set a hedge around Job is aware of every detail of your work, your customers, and your provision.

I will pray for you that God will give you wisdom to see any practical cause that can be addressed, whether it is a change in the market, in approach, or in something you have not yet seen, and that He will provide for you day by day from His own hand. I pray that He will steady your heart with patience like Job showed, not by denying your grief or your questions, but by helping you bring them honestly to Him and trust Him when you cannot trace His purposes. Ask Him for wisdom, for He promises to give it generously to those who ask, and keep seeking counsel from trustworthy people who can look at your sales work with fresh eyes without condemning you.

May the Lord show you His nearness in this hard stretch, sustain you in your labor, and lead you clearly whether to remain where you are or to take another path, and may you know that even in this trial He is still working for good in your life.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf. We are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer.

We have been lifting you up these past days and we want you to know that we have not forgotten your request. At ### years old and working six days a week on full commission, you have shown great faithfulness and diligence, and we understand how heavy this burden has felt as you have watched your sales drop significantly for the past two months while others around you have continued to do well, even though you have not changed anything in your work. We understand your heart to not have to leave this job where God has given you much success over the years to try to start over in a new job at this season of life, and your desire to find out what is causing this drop and to see God change the situation.

We continue to stand with you in prayer and we ask the Lord to give you wisdom and discernment to see what is affecting your sales, to open doors that no one can shut and to restore what has been lacking. We pray that He would grant you favor with customers and provide for every need according to His riches. We are reminded of His promise in Phil 4:19 and of His faithful care spoken of in Isa 46:4, that even to your old age He will sustain you.

If your request was answered and the Lord has revealed the cause or has lifted your sales, please post a praise report and let us all know so we can rejoice with you. If your request does not yet seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus Name, Amen.