Monday, January 30, 2006

Life on the Back Burner

Do you ever feel like God has put your life on the back burner?

Last Thursday God gave me a peek at what he has been cooking up. As I look back, I see that God has been working on this for a long time.

Two years ago, God called me into women’s ministry. It was an exciting growth experience for me. During that time, God gave me a passion to assist women in discovering who they are created to be. My greatest desire is to help women take their focus off their circumstances and experience a deeper intimacy with Christ. I loved letting God put my passion in action.

Then we moved. It has been wonderful. But, I miss the rush of seeing God at work so specifically in the lives around me. There have been many good places I could get involved. But each time I pray about them, I sense God saying “wait, I’m working on something else.”

Last Thursday, he revealed the “something else.” It took a few weeks to get me in the physical place to see it. It has taken a life time to get me in the spiritual place to be able to recognize it.

I was pretty certain where God was pointing but asked a few friends to pray about this decision with me. I received the encouragement I needed from those friends and from my husband. Then - God is so fun - he added more confirmation through the message at church yesterday.

The message focused on Jesus life among those considered outcasts. It was as if God delivered that message just for me. Since we began to pray about this move, my husband and I felt God preparing us to be more involved outside our typical Christian circles. I thought going to public schools was the biggest part of that plan. HA! God has something a little different in the works.

God is giving me the opportunity to build relationships with women in prison. I will be working with Kairos Prison Ministry. This is an exciting new adventure. I might have missed it if I busied myself with other “good” opportunities.

God is always at work even when we feel like things are not happening. Each day is either a step on the path God is clearing or our attempt to blaze our own path.

You are never on God’s back burner. Just wait. He’s working on something. Whatever he is asking of you today relates to his plan for tomorrow. Keep watching.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great news! We had the privilege of sitting for six hours with Reggie McNeal last Saturday. He made one statement I can't shake. "The church is not engaged in the harvest."

He encouraged our leadership to begin exploring ways to build the Kingdom outside the walls of our local congregation. It is evident that God is leading you and your husband in that direction.

Maybe, instead of counting attendance each week, we should celebrate the number of lives we have touched for Christ.

the mission:
PROCLAIM the good news; HEAL the sick and oppressed; BRING JUSTICE
~ Luke 4:16-20

Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing (John 14:12)
~ Jesus 


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