I couldn't have said it better myself!

This morning while the kiddos were nestled in their seats eating some dirt pudding and enjoying A Bug's Life (the movie) on a gray Seattle Friday, I stumbled across this passage of scripture. 

This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

-Ephesians 3:7-8 (MSG)

I originally read it in the NIV (that's the version of study BIble I am currently working in right now) but usually when I really love a scripture I like to check it out in a lot of different versions because they all resonate with me just a little differently. I am a words person, therefore the perfect wording of something inspirational will stick with me for a LONG time. 

I just thought this was so beautifully put. 

I remember being a kid at church and even a teenager and hearing my friends go to camps and to the alter always getting "called" into the ministry. Some of them were "called" to be missionaries and others "called" to be singers and secretly inside of myself I wondered why I wasn't "called" to be anything really. I wanted SO desperately to be "called" to something!

Years later I realized that we are ALL "called." God chose each of us from the very beginning, before he even formed us, for a very specific purpose in his beautiful and intricate plan. And discovering and playing out that part he entrusted to us is all that it REALLY means to be "called."

BUT of course there is an actual calling into the ministry. A specific urging of the Holy Spirit to give one's life to do the work of God. And this is the calling I longed for. One summer at camp I simply heard the word "AFRICA" and well ever since things have never been the same. 

For a while I was sold on this idea of being a missionary...but with age and life I decided to work the calling I had so longed for into my own plans and agenda, only to end up miserable. I was at a state university majoring in English and selling candy at an old fashioned candy counter for a living and dying a little inside each day longing for so much more. Finally, I broke and my parents agreed to help me search for what it was I needed to find. 

Long story short, God opened wide a door into full time ministry and as soon as I took the leap of faith my heart was at peace and I was overflowing with joy at what lied ahead of me. 

All that to say, I can never stop being amazed and humbled at the idea that God could use ME! A little American girl from a small town in Ohio. The opportunities he has given me to represent him I have been SO unworthy of but still he places so much in my weak, human care. For this I am forever grateful. 

This passage just said exactly what my heart has been trying to formulate for so long. God chose ME to handle his word and he's given me responsibility of souls that are in desperate need of him and that are so precious to him! And certainly NOT because I deserve this honor or responsibility but just because he is that gracious and he finds so much joy in using the least to shine HIS light and make HIS name known. I am just so excited and stunned to be a part of HIS lovely plan. 

What is it that God has "called" you to? If you haven't discovered that yet I would encourage you to spend some time with him to find his specific purpose for your life...because there IS one. I can guarantee that. And, if you do know what it is he has called you for, then embrace it! And spend some time thanking him and marveling at the incredible thought that God chose to use YOU in his beautiful plan of redemption. 

These are some AMAZING ministry opportunities that God has given me through the years and I'm SO blessed to have served him through each one...

   

Planting the kids ministry at RUSH church a few summers ago. (Arctic RUSH)

Serving as the RA on Bowie 2nd and 5th during my time at CBC. Being able to give to girls who gave SO much more back to me!

Mentoring and sharing friendship with lovely "little" girls from my church. I changed some of their diapers!

Nannying for two incredible kiddos and having the beautiful opportunity to serve a lovely family in Seattle.