I recently read a piece by a friend, “Navigating Legal Practice as a Christian Woman: My Experience.” It encouraged me, but it also cut deep!

Every admonition in that article held up a mirror to my own failures. 

I am a corporate and commercial lawyer who has spent much of my career reluctant to be identified with the profession itself. I learned early that the legal world rewards boldness: the outspoken advocate who commands a room and speaks their mind without hesitation. I am the opposite of that.

I prefer to work behind the scenes; I find small talk draining, and more than one person has told me, in one way or another, that I fall short of what a “good lawyer” should be. Behind that quiet exterior sat a different problem: a hunger to be appreciated above all else, the seeking of man’s approval over God’s. 

For the greater part of my legal career, this hidden sin shaped how I worked. It led me into compromise. It led me into decisions I knew were not right. It led me into small lies told for the sake of vain glory, for a boss’s “well done,” and for the reputation of being the best.

In each of those moments, I forgot who I was truly accountable to. I forgot that God’s glory, not my own, was what I should have been seeking. I told myself God was not there, not in the meeting room, not in the fine print of a contract. I told myself he did not understand how things worked in a broken world, in this “demanding profession.” 

Some evenings I groaned under the weight of that dishonesty and asked His forgiveness. Other days my heart had hardened, blinded by praise and ambition, and I walked away with my conscience seared.

This is a confession of my brokenness. It is also a reminder that hope remains. There is redemption in Christ. There is forgiveness for anyone who truly repents. As John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, ESV) God is merciful. He is able and willing to redeem us from our failings. He is also a righteous judge. His forgiveness is not something to take for granted. 

So, to any Christian struggling with weakness at work, whoever and wherever you are, there is hope for you too. Do not despair. Run to God rather than from Him. Do not settle into your flaws as though it were part of the job, the calling. On the days you lack the strength to do what is right, lean on Jesus. Of course we ought to cultivate ambition and growth at work, but where we inevitably fail, didn’t he say his grace is made perfect in our weakness?

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20–21, ESV

The writer is an advocate with KTA Associates and has featured in the Nakasero Cohort