Right Where You Are

We’ve been back home for a few days now and it has definitely been a whirlwind.  I’m just gonna be straight…. it’s been rough.  Being home and not knowing where we’re gonna live in less than 30 days is hard.  Watching my two oldest kids struggle and hate online schooling and beg me to be able to go back to their private school is hard.  Meeting with auctioneers to talk about selling all our possessions is hard.  Trying to find a balance between my home and the CR ministry and our ministry with MAF is hard.  I’ve never been a sugar coater on this blog and as you can see, today is no different.

I want to share with you a revelation God has been working on in me for about five years.  He is in the hard.  Ministry is in the hard.  Growth is in the hard.  I’m not sure why I can’t seem to figure that out and keep it stuck in my head. It is a resounding theme in scripture.  I don’t know a single person in the bible that just had it easy, smooth sailing, rainbows and sunshine.  But there is great joy in the growth, the ministry and the revelation that you are honored to serve God.

Our training the last two weeks in Idaho was mostly about building our story and how God led us to MAF and how to share that.  Through that time, the resounding theme for Jack and I was that God has had a call on our hearts for missions and for the hard stuff since high school.   We realized that we’ve actually been in missions our entire marriage and so are you.  Yes, we’ve done missions trips several times but we were also in missions when we got to work with the high school youth group.  We have been in missions as we have sat with people in our living room and became a listening ear for them.  We have been in missions as we supported our parents through the loss of our grandparents.  We have been in missions as we have helped in Celebrate Recovery.  But we were also in missions the day we became parents.  Yes foster and adoptive parents, but also biological parents.  One of our greatest joys but also greatest challenges and most important ministries has been being parents.

We might be literally moving to the other side of the world soon, but friends each mission/ministry God has had for us through the years mattered to Him and the building of His kingdom.  These things have mattered and so does everything you are doing.  I spent years down playing the works God had right in front of me because I just wanted to be a missionary and “make a big difference” in this world and all the while God was already doing it.  It took me a long time to come to that conclusion and it wasn’t until then that God opened up this door for us.

What I want you to know is that you are important right where you are.  Your ministry is everywhere.  You matter to God’s kingdom and you are making an impact.  Open your eyes and see it. No one is more important than you.

Frustrated momma, loyal co-worker, grieving parent or spouse….. you have a purpose and God is using you in ways you can’t even imagine.  Praise Him for that today and never forget it.  Ever.  And even in my difficult week I will choose to praise Him and see Him working as well.

Do you know someone who might need to hear that God has a plan for them in the midst of what they’re doing today?  Would you share this with them?  I’m always so encouraged when I see God working through these few (or sometimes many!) words I write on these pages.

Thanks for letting me share :)

“The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.”  Proverbs 20:5