I came to Christ in college and I felt compelled to be
busy for the Lord. I served through the Baptist Student Union in revivals and
community outreaches, witnessed on my college campus and served in my local
church through the College and Career group.
After my marriage, my foremost ministry was to my husband
and children. I was described by church members as a casually spotless
homemaker, and I provided them with healthy, home cooked meals from scratch. When
my children reached kindergarten age, I volunteered in local schools as a
teacher's helper.
In the churches my husband pastored, I helped to lead worship
with my guitar, I mentored younger women one-on-one, and I volunteered in the
community at the weekly soup kitchen and seasonal food drives.
Since I had extra time once my children went to school, I
volunteered in the church office, conducted women's ministry meetings, taught
children's Sunday school and eventually directed the children's Sunday school.
I taught crochet classes at a local yarn shop and led my
boss to faith in Christ. I did inreach to members and outreach to visitors in
the church setting and helped in my husband's ministry as much as he would
allow.
Then, we moved into a travel trailer and our little
family accompanied my husband around the eastern USA as he went from church to
church as he felt led. My children did puppet shows; and I led singing with my
guitar for the children's ministries, sang specials in the church meetings and
shared encouraging word pictures as the Lord gave them to me.
I home schooled my children and continued to cook from
scratch in our little trailer home. When we settled in a permanent location
again, God provided a job for me at a local alternative school to teach social
studies and math.
I also volunteered to teach art classes, since that was
not supported by the school budget. I had a few student to our home for supper
every week so they could experience the love of a Christian family. A time or
two, we even housed a student who was homeless or from a violent home. I
continued this frenzy of service well into my 40s.
Am I telling you all of this to brag? No, but to confess
my faults.
I did much of this in the flesh and was not led by the
Spirit of God in many of my activities. I am sure I was walking in God's will
at various moments of all of this effort; but I was often out of His will too.
I certainly was not ministering from the place of God's
rest, but from my own human effort and understanding. I did not consult God in
order to allow Him to direct my paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). I just ran around doing
good.
It was only in my late 40s that I really realized the
importance of functioning from God's rest (Lamentations 3:25-26). In my 50s,
God taught me that prayer is as vital as service; and in my 60s, I started to
write more, which is where God was anointing my time.
I learned to say "No" when asked to serve in a
ministry where God was not calling me. As a codependent perfectionist, this was
painful to do; but as I reaped the blessings of God's continual presence in all
that I did do, it did not take me long to learn that to obey is much better than
sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).
Prayer:
Father God, I am so glad that people are learning this
lesson at a younger age now than ever before (Psalm 40:6). We are coveting Your
presence and anointing in our life rather than sacrifice and service to which
You are not calling us (Hebrews 10:6). You would much rather that we spend our
time loving You with all of our heart, strength and understanding, and our
neighbor as our self before we get caught up in the business of life and church
work (Mark 12:33; Psalm 51:16).
You want us to listen to Your Spirit and to function in Your
will for our life (Ephesians 2:10; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Proverbs 21:3), because
our perfect sacrifice to You is humility, mercy and obedience as we consult You
for Your will for our life rather than for us to sacrifice in areas where You
are not calling us. - Hosea 6:6; Jeremiah 7:23; Isaiah 1:11; Psalm 51:17
Thought for the Day:
God created us as a Body and if we all function in the
ministries to which He calls us, the church will be perfectly fitted for service
to Him, to one another and to our community. - Ecclesiastes 5:1
