Question: Your Blessing Fr.Andrey, Venerable Mothers and Sisters. I am an Orthodox in the United States in Florida. I work in social services of a protestant institution, but I would like to one day work full time for an Orthodox Organization as a Social Work. How do I make sure my current work is pleasing to God? How do I make sure I am treating my coworkers and every client the way the church teaches me to treat them. In my personal life I am single and I also want to make sure all my free time is devoted to God and working towards my salvation. How do I do that when I don't have a wife of children to help and and challenge me towards Salvation and are not a monastic so I can't live in obedience and do the work assigned to me by my elder?
The answer of Fr. Andrey Lemeshonok to the question:
First of all, you help people. Yes, your organization is Protestant — that is clear — but people are the same everywhere, and you help them. And that is pleasing to God.
It is absolutely wonderful that your spirit is truly alive. You are likely still quite young, and your soul wants to fill your life with service to God and to your neighbour. Right now you are at a crossroads: “How do I build my life?”
You have not found a wife. You do not have a family, you do not have children — and that is a big cross. There is another way: the monastic way. And it seems you are not ready for that yet either. Because you have not yet chosen your own measure of life.
You need to ask God for this, to watch for His will along the way, as the days slip by and, yes, you need to make a decision. I trust God will show you. The key is to gather your patience and hold on. Do not just sit idle, though. Pray. Ask for God’s help.
And I think the Lord will lead you exactly where you need to go for your salvation. Either He will grant you a wife to share the trials of marriage, or you will eventually enter a monastery, working there and placing everything into His hands.
So, be patient. Do not make sharp moves. And do not lose heart because at certain moments you feel some weakness in yourself. God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.
