Wednesday, October 6, 2010

My Interruptions ARE Ministry

My new motto in life! I think I want to make this a plaque and hang it above the kitchen door or for that matter every room in my house! And I am quite sure I need one in my van too!

The interruptions ARE ministry!

My husband posted this the other day after an all day prayer walk with Family Life.

This hit me hard. It IS sooooo correct!

I am confident that satan is on a campaign to detour our focus from the real issue. How did we get so lost in ourselves, our chaos, and our agenda that we have totally forgotten what is really important.

Moms, this IS what being a mom is all about. Yes, this is true for everyone but in our role as mother, our worlds are full of interruptions, at any given moment, on any given day! (Mostly they are ages newborn - 18, although I am discovering there is no age limit on this! Because whether it is my children, my parents or my in-laws it is an honor to be there for them.)

How quickly we forget the mission field the Lord has given to us! Our mission field is where ever we are, with whomever the Lord opens the door too, in any given circumstances.

I find most of my ministry moments....

  • never come knocking at the most convenient time of my day.
  • will never be proposed to me in a nice and neatly wrapped box.
  • and will almost always cost me something (a sacrifice of my desire).

My goodness, it wasn't convenient for Jesus as He died upon the cross for our sins!

His ministry moments....
  • didn't come at the most convenient times. (always came as He was going)
  • wasn't always pretty. (as he bled upon that cross)
  • and it cost Him something (He died for OUR sins...wasn't even His)

The amazing thing about ministry though is we often would gladly do it again. (We know Jesus although not eager to give His life, was glad to do it!) I can't think of one instance where I stopped what I was doing and was furious that I had to seize the moment to love on a child, share with a friend, or meet the need of my husband.

  • That moment in which I stop to train a child about lying always seems to come right before I have some place to be. And yet when the child grasps the truth of what he has been doing it was worth me being late!
  • Sometimes to meet the need of a friend means me juggling a few things to make it happen but I never regret it. To see that I actually helped make someone elses day easier or met a very specific need, her smile or emotion of relief is a great reward.
  • Or to stop for a moment with what I am doing to hear about my husbands hard day or to help pick up something he needs from the store, even though I did the store run yesterday. For him to see it is an honor for me to help him, then I get to reap the benefits of meeting his needs as the next thing I know he is going above and beyond for me.
Yes, sometimes dinner was a mess, the house was destroyed, I'm a few minutes late, I may not have been able to get dressed before noon or for that matter dinner. But after the fact, I am thanking the Lord that He grabbed my attention long enough to get me off 'my agenda' and onto the moment.

Maybe we should STOP looking at life 'as a world of order' (our mistake to view it this way) and begin looking at it 'as a world of interruptions'! (God's design)

Are you looking for your next interruption with eager anticipation to see what God can do in any given situation with a willing heart? Your heart?

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