I was talking with a wonderful woman "Karen" the other day who I’ve known for over 11 years. I’ve watched her go from standing on stage singing in our worship team to slowly loosing her ability to walk, to being wheelchair bound due to the ravages of MS. She has had quite a journey. She was a pillar at an International corporation, has since retired and now volunteers in our church office and our handwritten card ministry. I had the awesome pleasure to be able to sit with her for about an hour the other day. I hadn’t planned on it, but you know how God’s schedule can differ from our own sometimes. She kind of looked sad so I was just trying to find out what was going on and encourage her a little bit. Since I’m studying to be a Life Purpose Coach and it’s my hearts desire to help women find their purpose, of course I asked her what she was passionate about? She thought about it and said she really didn’t know. Not unusual. We talked a little more and as she started to verbalize what she likes to do and how she sees God using her (we women need to talk things through don’t we?). She told me how God has used her service dog, Emmy, to meet so many people! Emmy is an adorable yellow lab and my friend's canine soul mate! People love to come up to Emmy, pet her and start talking with my friend. She was amazed at how people opened up to her. "Karen" has a HUGE capacity to love and it gives her an opportunity to listen, empathize and minister to hurting people. She realized if it weren’t for her MS, she wouldn’t have Emmy and she wouldn’t be meeting all these people. She calls it her “Emmistry”!!! I love that!!! But what struck me was something she shared with me that God has been dealing with in my own heart. She felt that unless she was doing something that effected a huge group of people (like speaking before an audience), or was impacting hundreds of peoples lives it really wasn’t that significant! I’ve struggled with this myself. When I first started this journey a year ago, I thought I had to be the next Beth Moore in order to be effective for the kingdom. As if fame is the only marker for eternal success. Now, in my head I know better, but I think the culture we live in fosters this idea that fame=success. And I bought into it. I’m not proud of it, by any means, and it ended up scaring me to death. I can’t live up to that? I’m not qualified, I’m no expert! So I would be frozen in fear and not do anything! And God gave me this amazing word, “don’t look at the ministry, look at the heart of my people.” And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? It’s not about the marketing, or the number of “likes” you have on your page. It’s about the people you encounter in your daily life. The lives you touch and influence by being in relationship with them. Yes, Jesus spoke to multitudes, but mostly he ministered one on one. When He healed people it was my touching them, up close and personal. Don’t ever downplay the ministry you do day to day, with your kids, with the people you work with or even your spouse. Bigger is not always better. “You were born to make a Christlike difference in hundreds of ordinary ways, not to ignore or avoid the present opportunities while looking for a bigger, more noticeable project.” - Katie Brazelton. I can't tell you how this resonates with me. Each day I have to die to my expections and just ask God, "what is it you want me to do today for You?"
So I hope to encourage you to be mindful of the little things you do, the people you meet day to day and recognize that they are all divine appointments! Do today what God is calling you to do. Let God handle the “big picture”. Glorify God in EVERYTHING you do, no matter how big or small. But most importantly, when we invest ourselves other peoples lives, the payoff is not only eternal, it’s priceless!
