Angela Hunt has a marvelous post on Charis Connection about Life Fillers and Life Drainers. It is astounding to me what she points out. Of course I knew this. I took a course on time management, but had forgotten most of it. So why was Angela Hunt’s article so startling?
Because life isn’t about time management. [shock]. Life for Christians is all about living for Jesus and bringing Him glory. That’s perfectly lovely to mouth that platitude, but come on, how many of us actually wake up every single morning with this plan in our head? Coffee is on my mind the first thing. I used to be good and wake up every morning with a prayer on my lips thanking God for all that He has given me. But one morning, I woke up as spiritually depleted as a deflated balloon.
“Why?” I can hear you ask. Because I was in a ministry that I knew was not my ministry. I know because it did not give me that mental rush as I got ready for it. It didn’t give me any extra energy and I was flat out not motivated to get in the car and go. I had a sense of dread that I could not overcome by myself. I was in it for six years, and I had this dread feeling almost every Saturday morning during the school year. Another reason was because I had no passion for the ministry like I have for Refreshment in Refuge and for teaching my ladies in Sunday School or even teaching Discipleship Training on Sunday evening. And, most especially, not like the passion I have for writing.
I believe this ministry started by my mom is still going strong in that little town. These Sonshine Kids were precious and truly the ministry was something that God had blessed beyond belief. We reached the kids in an extremely small town with God’s message. We saw ten accept Jesus within two years. Over the next four years, several more accepted Jesus and lives were changed! I got plenty excited about that. Tears would wash my cheeks when a little one would raise his hand or another would nod her head to ask Jesus into their hearts. When I got there, I loved it and loved them, and especially loved what God was doing with the ministry.
For God to bless any ministry, we must have the right attitude and right heart intent. So, I prayed for that. He looked kindly on me and gave my heart a tune-up so that I could keep going. I was blessed to take part in it, but I knew deep within my heart it wasn’t a work that God had prepared for me. I cannot help but wonder who’s ministry I was working. Who was it that missed out on a blessing from God that would give them zest for life, energy without stopping and a huge smile in their Spirit?
So, I prayed that God would give whoever it was the boldness to come forward and volunteer for their proper place in Sonshine Kids. No one ever did until we had to move away.
Paul talks about various gifts, various ministries and various expressions of power in 1 Corinthians 12. The various ministries are the good works that God has provided for us to do from the foundation of the world. The various gifts are the motivations that God gifted us with in order for us to gravitate to the works He has planned for each of us individually.
These gifts are what make us who we are in Christ. These gifts drive our personality and define our souls so that we may all work together to make a whole. One body, one Spirit, one Baptism formulate the unity of Jesus. This is something that I believe Christ’s church is forgetting. We are so caught up in political correctness that we forget Christ’s Correctness.
So why didn’t I quit Sonshine Kids and open the door for whoever was supposed to be doing it?
After praying so much about why I dreaded going to this thing, I slowly came to the realization that it was as much for my own growth as for the kids’ growth that I continued. God gives us skills and motivations for His purpose and He wants willing workers in His kingdom. We must realize what His ultimate goal is and walk with Him, use His plan, and keep pliable so that His goal will be reached.
David Jeremiah said something so profound and truly simple one Sunday. He said, “Your prayers draw you into God’s plan.” This is how we become replenished. What ever circumstance we find ourselves in, we should recognize what God’s purpose is for that time and place.
Maybe it was my ministry for that time and that place after all and my prayers drew me into God’s plan because this life certainly isn’t about me, it’s all about Him.
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