When I was about 15 years old the
minister at our church made a comment to me that I should seriously consider a
life in ministry. At the time I
had so many plans for what I wanted for my life I brushed it off. Throughout my adolescence and young
adulthood I have come back to those words often. Even once contemplating leaving Shenandoah and going to
another school to study Religion.
It was not until I met Jeffrey that Pastor Jim’s words rang clearly
throughout my mind and my heart.
Something stirred within me that I had locked up, something blossomed
and filled me with a desire to serve the Lord.
Three years later and here I am:
Director of Music Ministry, working in an infant room at a ministry/faith based
Nursery School, and married to a Seminarian.
I’ve been trying to do
devotionals every evening… now sometimes I find reasons not to do them such as
I’m too tired, I have too much to do, or I REALLY want to catch up on last
week’s episode of Glee. But on the
nights that I do… I sleep better, I wake up the next morning more refreshed,
and I ALWAYS read something that directly applies to what I’ve been dealing
with in life. Tonight was no
different.
I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with
which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
Despite feeling a calling,
working in the area I feel called by God to work in, and believing in my call
there are many times during a day, or a week, or a month that I do not feel
worthy of such a call. Being
humble, patient, and gentle 24/7 has proved to be quite a tall order. I am constantly finding myself wishing
I had been more loving in a conversation with a member of a committee or
scolding myself for not being diligent in being a contributing member of the
team.
Then it gets even bigger and scarier… when
people find out I am married to a man going to seminary or the wife of a
Pastor, how will they perceive my calling? Will they feel I am walking with Jesus in a manner worthy of
the calling as a partner of a Man of God?
If I am not always able to live worthy of my call how can I support,
encourage and engage my husband in his walk with Christ?
How do we as Christians remind
ourselves of these duties we are earnestly asked to do?
I ask you, my dear friends, not
as a rhetorical questions, but hoping for genuine thoughts… so please comment!
Have a lovely week… and as I
always say to Jeffrey as he heads off to work, “Be a blessing!”
PEACE!!
I'm pretty amazed at the impressive woman of faith the Lord has been crafting out of you the past few years, Dani. You should (as I'm sure you often do) take a look back at the woman you were in 2008, before you met Jeff and even before you felt called to serve, that girl lacked her true purpose but she had humor and adventure and perserverance in SPADES. THAT girl is also pastoring these days and the great thing about her is she ALWAYS makes it work, she finds some way to gracefully cover up the embarrassing bits and make everyone feel at home by sharing in the joke of imperfections. I doubt many people will get the chance to assume you are not living worthy of you calling and as long as you are mindful and you continue to seek God's guidance and grace, I know you will inspire plenty more people to be themselves and to find their unique gifts in the kingdom. You see, I think you're going to revolutionize "the calling as a partner of a man of God". And that will encourage, support and engage everyone.
ReplyDelete~Sundance (Annie)
Q: "How do we as Christians remind ourselves of these duties we are earnestly asked to do?"
ReplyDeleteA: "Be a blessing!"
I think you have a better understanding and grasp of these questions than you give yourself credit for, my dear sister.
You played an intricate part in helping pull me out of my "dark place" in the last 2 years since I've moved home. Through you and the TUCC family, I'm finally open to God and my faith in a way I didn't know existed. It's all hit home for me in the last month or so...and I gotta tell you, I can't imagine being anywhere else than in this new-found openness and willingness to God and his grace.
I think being AWARE of this, and AWARE of our desire to be like Him is a blessing in and of itself. Not many people are willing to do take that on. And you have...exponentially. I say this with the least amount of snark as I can muster, but I really do have moments of "WWDD?--What would Dani do?"
So, keep doing what you're doing. Keep being the blessing you are.