My....Ministry

It was a Tuesday when Pastor Terry sent me a message.  I made another bold move the week before by sending him a link to my entry "Fire in My Bones." After all, it was his sermon that was so inspiring.  Today, he was asking me to speak at both of the Ash Wednesday services at our church about "My Ministry".  My passion for birthdays was now a ministry?? Wow.   It's strange yet exciting to hear it referred to that way.  And even more exciting was the fact that he wanted to donate all of the offerings to OUR birthday fund.  God is so amazing.

I instantly wanted to say no.  I am uncomfortable speaking in front of a few people let alone an entire congregation.  I find it interesting and almost humorous how God loves to pull us out of our comfort zone in order to do his will.  With some encouragment from a good friend and a reminder to myself that this "ministry" wasn't about me, I said yes. If I truly wanted to keep following God's will for my life, I would just have to get over it and go for it.  And... it helped that I had recruited Micah to stand up there with me. Ha. He is such a good husband.

So... the next day, we got in front of two different congregations and spoke about our birthday parties and the foster home.  I just kept praying that God would calm my nerves and speak thru me.  It's amazing what God can do because when we got up there, the fear seemed to melt away. I felt like the words just flowed out of our mouths.  I shared how special these parties are to the kids and Micah explained all of the facts about the home.  After the last service was complete, I felt a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time.  A feeling I didn't even realize had been missing for a while.  It was that feeling you get when you know you've done something right.  Like the feeling I felt as a child when I knew I made my parents proud.  A tingling of joy that I could feel all the way to my toes.

In the book "One Month to Live" it referred to your God given gifts as "The place where your deep gladness and the world's deepest hunger meet."  Several months ago, I prayed that God would take me there.  These parties might be a long, long way from the worlds deepest hunger.  But, I do feel like the joy I felt was God's way of telling me I'm on the right path.  Thank you Lord.

Today I received a check from the church for way more than I imagined.  God is so good.