Moms - What you are doing IS ministry.
My faith is important to me. Or, let me clarify; my God is important to me. So much of what I talk about, busy myself with, learn about, surround myself with...etc is connected to my faith and my relationship with God. To be honest, it's the thing I am most passionate about. I LOVE to talk about God with others. I love sitting about and sharing faith stories and pulling apart a verse from the Bible. I love hearing other's insight into what that verse is teaching them. I'm a pretty laid back, even keeled person - but when conversations turn to God - I get excited.
I remember a conversation I had later that same summer with my youth pastor and he asked me what I was thinking of doing after high school - what did I want to study and become? And my answer was - I want to tell people about God, help them know Him. I had no idea at the time what that would mean or where that would lead me and some days I continue to learn what that means for me. For most of my adult life that has meant shepherding teenagers and children in their faith. Teaching them and encouraging them and showing them who Jesus is. Helping others to know God meant that I was a literal pastor of young people. And I loved it.
Most days now it means shepherding my children - pointing them to Jesus, praying for them and setting an example of what following after God looks like. But these days it also means shepherding women. It means being a friend and praying for them. It means sitting together and asking questions like - what's really hard in your life right now and where are you seeing God? See, ministering can take on all different forms. It can mean working in a church as a pastor, leading a congregation or a group of teenagers or young children and helping them know Jesus. But ministry and helping others to know God - can also mean being a mom, a wife, a friend, a sister or daughter. It can absolutely mean being who we are, where we are and helping others know Jesus as we live life. As I drive my kids and their friends around - I help them to know Jesus. As I cook dinner and invite others into my home - I show them Jesus. As I meet together in small groups or move tables and set up chairs, as I volunteer in school or fold laundry - I'm showing Jesus. In all the things I do every day - those that all the people see and those that no one sees - I am showing Jesus.
As moms, we are also ministers of Christ. We are the hands of Jesus as we wipe away tears and give hugs. We are the feet of Jesus as we drive our kids to all the places, but most of all as we usher them into church every Sunday and all the other days we show up. As we pray throughout our house, or over the phone or at our weekly small group - we show our kids and our families that following Jesus is important. Moms - as you are up all night long with a sick child, praying and singing and maybe even crying tears of exhaustion - we are teaching our little ones about the tender heart of God.
Before I was married and had kids I often struggled with what it would look like for me to do ministry and raise a family all at the same time. How do I do both? But maybe what I am doing right now as a mom and wife - caring for my home and my husband and my children. Maybe as I build relationships with other women - maybe all of that IS the ministry I am to do right now. Maybe the very people I am called to share Christ with right now are the little people who live in my house. Maybe those I get excited about sharing my faith with aren't teenagers anymore, but maybe they are the women who come to gather together for rest and refreshment and for a breath of fresh air with 10 min. away from their children. And as I listen and love, encourage and admonish (my children), as i build relationships and offer prayer and as I continue to be excited about the story of my faith and even more the story of faith that I see God writing in those around me - maybe I am still and continuing and always will be engaged in ministry as I answer God's call on my life in the ordinary moments of my every day.
Don't give in to thinking the way you are serving God these days is fruitless or meaningless or few - because every moment of every day Moms as you care for and raise little people - you are a minister of Christ Jesus. Those little people need us to show them Jesus. Don't ever discount how very important that is.
I remember the first time I realized that talking about God and being comfortable with that, excited even was on my very first mission trip as a teenager. I was 15 and we were in a community center at a homeless shelter in Boston. As a young child and teenager and sometimes even now - I tended to be very quiet and shy. At school I was not the one raising my hand and answering questions (unless I was 100 % positive I knew the answer). I'm not outgoing at all. I'm an introverts introvert. Until I start talking about my faith or your faith or what the Bible has to say about God. Then - I talk and I listen and I'm overcome with excitement. As I sat across the table from a few different homeless men and they asked me questions about Jesus and trusting, about faith and believing, that I was able to answer them with confidence and authority and a voice that I know only comes from God. I had something to say and a Spirit of courage and passion overwhelmed me.
Most days now it means shepherding my children - pointing them to Jesus, praying for them and setting an example of what following after God looks like. But these days it also means shepherding women. It means being a friend and praying for them. It means sitting together and asking questions like - what's really hard in your life right now and where are you seeing God? See, ministering can take on all different forms. It can mean working in a church as a pastor, leading a congregation or a group of teenagers or young children and helping them know Jesus. But ministry and helping others to know God - can also mean being a mom, a wife, a friend, a sister or daughter. It can absolutely mean being who we are, where we are and helping others know Jesus as we live life. As I drive my kids and their friends around - I help them to know Jesus. As I cook dinner and invite others into my home - I show them Jesus. As I meet together in small groups or move tables and set up chairs, as I volunteer in school or fold laundry - I'm showing Jesus. In all the things I do every day - those that all the people see and those that no one sees - I am showing Jesus.
As moms, we are also ministers of Christ. We are the hands of Jesus as we wipe away tears and give hugs. We are the feet of Jesus as we drive our kids to all the places, but most of all as we usher them into church every Sunday and all the other days we show up. As we pray throughout our house, or over the phone or at our weekly small group - we show our kids and our families that following Jesus is important. Moms - as you are up all night long with a sick child, praying and singing and maybe even crying tears of exhaustion - we are teaching our little ones about the tender heart of God.
Before I was married and had kids I often struggled with what it would look like for me to do ministry and raise a family all at the same time. How do I do both? But maybe what I am doing right now as a mom and wife - caring for my home and my husband and my children. Maybe as I build relationships with other women - maybe all of that IS the ministry I am to do right now. Maybe the very people I am called to share Christ with right now are the little people who live in my house. Maybe those I get excited about sharing my faith with aren't teenagers anymore, but maybe they are the women who come to gather together for rest and refreshment and for a breath of fresh air with 10 min. away from their children. And as I listen and love, encourage and admonish (my children), as i build relationships and offer prayer and as I continue to be excited about the story of my faith and even more the story of faith that I see God writing in those around me - maybe I am still and continuing and always will be engaged in ministry as I answer God's call on my life in the ordinary moments of my every day.
Don't give in to thinking the way you are serving God these days is fruitless or meaningless or few - because every moment of every day Moms as you care for and raise little people - you are a minister of Christ Jesus. Those little people need us to show them Jesus. Don't ever discount how very important that is.
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