Doing GREATER with God: Trusting God When You’re Asked to Do More with Less

The Challenge

Your challenge will be to do more with less.

That was the charge my director gave me during my summative in May. The district anticipated huge budget cuts, and my challenge would be to do more with less.

That felt reasonable enough. I knew the reality and had accepted things would have to change moving forward. With declining student enrollment and legislative changes impacting public education funding, it wasn’t a matter of if we’d have to stretch our resources, but when.

The News I Anticipated

Fast forward to Monday, November 10th. Two of my colleagues delivered the news I had anticipated: my position as Staff Health & Wellness Manager, Emotional & Social Pillars would be RIF'd at the end of the 25–26 school year.

I wasn’t angry. I knew it wasn’t personal. I could understand why my position was being cut. Logically, it made sense to me. Up to that point, I had served the district to the very best of my ability, and I could rest on that fact.

And.

It stung.

It hurt.

It hit.

It sucked.

Preparing vs. Living the Moment

There’s preparing mentally for a moment you anticipate. And then there’s sitting in the actual moment. Whether it’s joy, like the birth of new life, or sorrow, like grieving a loss, you can’t fully prepare for the reality when it arrives. We are blessed to have a Father who already knows this and makes provision for our feelings and our fears.

Abundance vs. Scarcity

The Sunday after my RIF notification, I was reminded of God’s provision at church. Pastor taught on generosity and introduced the science and spirituality of embracing an Abundance Mindset.

Simply put, abundance says: “There’s more than enough for all of us.”

In contrast, many of us operate with a Scarcity Mindset, which says: “There’s never enough for any of us.” In times of declining enrollment, funding cuts, and RIFs, scarcity may feel logical. But it can numb us to the pain of loss and trick us into believing we bear no responsibility to make things better.

Stretched Even Further

Scarcity is only part of the problem. As it relates to resources, the Poverty Mindset can also set in.

Poverty says: “I don’t have and won’t ever have enough.” In a time when you’re asked to “do more with less,” those who struggle with poverty thinking feel stretched beyond measure.

But God.

Comfort in the Waiting

Last night, Thursday, December 4th to be exact, I—along with more than 100 others—awaited the Board’s decision on that preliminary RIF list. From November 10th to December 4th, I waited. And while I waited, I was comforted.

I was comforted because I was reminded that with every ending comes a new beginning.

With a 5–1 vote to approve the RIFs, just like that, my waiting had come to an end, and my new beginning was starting. This new beginning was actually an opportunity—an opportunity to trust God in a way I never have before.

Though my mindset wrestles with scarcity and poverty—because I’m human, and the sting of loss is real, and the weight of it presses hard—God’s gentle reminders of my life of abundance lift me out of that pit of worry and fear.

Looking Ahead

There are new beginnings and challenges ahead. New stories and future blog posts in store. Testimonies I have yet to tell—because I have yet to live them.

In times like this, I must speak the promises of God over my life. I must stand firm on what I know to be true: there is no lack in Christ. That covers this RIF, my next venture, and every adventure moving forward.

I choose to seize the opportunity, and with God’s help, I know it’s going to be GREATER.

Reflection for You

• What opportunity is God calling you to seize?

  
  

• How can you shift your mindset from scarcity and/or poverty to abundance?

  
  

• What does it look like for you to trust God fully in a time when you’re asked to “do more with less”?

  
  

• Imagine the victory on the other side of your current challenge. What does it look and feel like for you to trust God to get you there?

  
  

With God, doing more with less becomes doing greater with Him.