So, like I said, there we were, the building plans in our hands for our 2000 Sq. Ft. house that we were going to build, looking at the possibility of giving up our (I was staying home at the time, though) careers to follow this path God had for us. That December, the Lord led the Pastor to have Kevin come on staff as a Youth Director in a learn-on-the-job type situation. So, he quit his job, climbing up the ladder, to follow the call of God on his life, our lives. In January 2001, we started in full-time ministry.
Those first two years of ministry were stretching, challenging of course, and very blessed. Personally, I had to find the line between my ministry at home with my two baby girls (who were 17 months apart) and to what extent I would be able to be involved at the church. I wanted to be able to do so much more ministry, or what my concept of ministry was! I wanted to be teaching, counseling, ministering to and with the teen girls, but many times I didn’t have child care for my girls or an event would be late so I would stay home. I often found myself jealous of my husband that he was so “free” to do all that God had called him to. I was SO disillusioned! Unfortunately, I spent the majority of these two years disillusioned and misunderstood the concept of ministry, especially to my family. (I will touch more on that and how God changed my heart when we were in the D.R.) Another challenge was that with my hubby jumpin’ in head first, he was VERY busy! He was excited, gave his all and was gung-ho, but he too had a misconstrued idea of ministry, and that meant he gave his all at the church and sometimes left us (me and the kids) in second place. (I wouldn’t blog this if my hubby didn’t want me to, but this is something he is open about and shares a wonderful testimony of how God opened his eyes to love priorities 1) God 2) Wife 3) Kids and 4) Ministry.) Finally, these years were challenging because of trying to live up to people’s expectations and preferences that weren’t necessarily my own from God. I probably don’t need to go into too much detail, because most people I know have “been there-done that”. J It was a seeking time, figuring out who I was in Christ, yet feeling like I had to do things a certain way… Again, stay tuned for the wonderful season that God, through the tender leading of the Holy Spirit and many opportunities, helped me find who I was in Him.
I loved this season of ministry because we were growing as much as the kids that we were ministering to/with. It was intimidating, at times, to be teaching Sunday School knowing that some of these teens had been in church longer that we had even been SAVED!! But, God gave us teachable hearts, and we had no choice to be humble throughout that time, because we didn’t know MUCH. All I knew was that I could not “but speak the things which we have seen and heard” Acts 4:20. I knew I loved my Jesus, I knew Jesus loved those teens and He could radically change their lives if they would live for Him and I wanted to know so much more!
To Be Continued…
Those first two years of ministry were stretching, challenging of course, and very blessed. Personally, I had to find the line between my ministry at home with my two baby girls (who were 17 months apart) and to what extent I would be able to be involved at the church. I wanted to be able to do so much more ministry, or what my concept of ministry was! I wanted to be teaching, counseling, ministering to and with the teen girls, but many times I didn’t have child care for my girls or an event would be late so I would stay home. I often found myself jealous of my husband that he was so “free” to do all that God had called him to. I was SO disillusioned! Unfortunately, I spent the majority of these two years disillusioned and misunderstood the concept of ministry, especially to my family. (I will touch more on that and how God changed my heart when we were in the D.R.) Another challenge was that with my hubby jumpin’ in head first, he was VERY busy! He was excited, gave his all and was gung-ho, but he too had a misconstrued idea of ministry, and that meant he gave his all at the church and sometimes left us (me and the kids) in second place. (I wouldn’t blog this if my hubby didn’t want me to, but this is something he is open about and shares a wonderful testimony of how God opened his eyes to love priorities 1) God 2) Wife 3) Kids and 4) Ministry.) Finally, these years were challenging because of trying to live up to people’s expectations and preferences that weren’t necessarily my own from God. I probably don’t need to go into too much detail, because most people I know have “been there-done that”. J It was a seeking time, figuring out who I was in Christ, yet feeling like I had to do things a certain way… Again, stay tuned for the wonderful season that God, through the tender leading of the Holy Spirit and many opportunities, helped me find who I was in Him.
I loved this season of ministry because we were growing as much as the kids that we were ministering to/with. It was intimidating, at times, to be teaching Sunday School knowing that some of these teens had been in church longer that we had even been SAVED!! But, God gave us teachable hearts, and we had no choice to be humble throughout that time, because we didn’t know MUCH. All I knew was that I could not “but speak the things which we have seen and heard” Acts 4:20. I knew I loved my Jesus, I knew Jesus loved those teens and He could radically change their lives if they would live for Him and I wanted to know so much more!
To Be Continued…
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