Women in Ministry - Part II

It was a cool day in late Fall. I was sitting on the porch swing outside our little home, weeping and wailing at the top of my lungs. “Why God???” was the basic gist of my cry. I had been wounded once again. Another rejection by someone who felt I was in disobedience to God by being in ministry. What was wrong with me anyway? Why couldn’t I be content be a wife and mother? Why did I feel I had to do what men did? This time the rejection came in the form of a phone call that was followed by a letter. At least they were thorough!

So here I was again, alone and overwhelmed, dissolved into a pile of mush on my porch. The truth was that I had no answers for them. I had no idea why I was in full-time ministry. It just “happened”! I never really thought about it. I didn’t plan for it. It wasn’t on my wish list nor was it a career goal. Ministry simply evolved in my life. There was no huge vision or loud Voice from heaven in the beginning. It was a journey led by God…

I became a Christian as a young girl, but walked away from God in my teen years. During that time, I followed the partying life-style of my peers and threw myself into immoral activity. Whatever I did, I did one hundred percent! The wounds of my youth served as fuel for the fire and my life was consumed by sin. Thankfully, I found Christ anew at the age of eighteen (or did He find me???) and everything changed. I gave myself to God with the same devotion I once gave the world. There was no half-way commitment for me! It took some time and I stumbled and fell more than once, but I was on my way.

A few months later I met a handsome young man who ran a Christian coffeehouse. He was nearly seven years older than me, extremely poor, and divorced. His clothes never matched and his bib-overalls were torn. His hair was long and he didn’t have a car. He rode a bike to get wherever he wanted to go! He had been an alcoholic and spent time in jail for habitual drunk driving. He had a small son who was only three years old. He was everything I had been taught to avoid as a Christian…and I fell totally in love! Eight short months after meeting him, we were married in our church and launched into full-time street ministry together. What a life for newlyweds!

We shared our new home – the Coffeehouse – with a Christian guy named “Boots” and anyone else who needed a place to stay. Our bedroom was the only privacy we shared…and it had a one-foot space around the top of the wall that opened to the public bathroom. Nothing to spark the romantic feeling like men using the bathroom in the middle of the night! We shared the living and kitchen area with the boarders and they also used the shower in our room. The girls coming in off the streets wore my clothes. Everyone ate our food, used our dishes, and relied on us from morning until night. I didn’t think much about being called to ministry…I just did what needed to be done. I counseled, prayed, sang, and taught what little I knew about God to those who would listen. I cleaned and cooked, gathered clothes for the needy and did my best to be a wife and part-time mother.

At the end of our second year, my husband felt God calling him to ministry in his hometown of Coleman, Michigan. We rented an empty house that was cold and rat-infested and moved by faith. We had no idea what we would do when we got there. We only knew God told us to go. It was either absolute stupidity or tremendous faith! Our son Caleb was born the day we put our dishes in the kitchen cupboard. I had a difficult delivery and spent the next week in the hospital.

During that week, my husband visited the local Assembly of God church. A young pastor named Bob Roberts had recently taken the pastorate. The congregation consisted of about six people. It was a small beginning. Yet there was an instant witness between the two pastors and my husband knew he had found our next place of ministry. By the time I recovered from my hospital stay, we were hired as Youth Pastors for the small congregation, earning $50.00 a week. Again, there was no bright light or angelic visitation to announce my call to ministry…it just happened!

For the next year and one half, I served alongside my husband teaching, praying, counseling, and assisting with youth activities. I worked in the church nursery, directed a children’s choir, and helped with the women’s ministry. To compensate for the minimal pay, I took a job washing dishes in a local restaurant. Eventually, my husband found work on the night shift at a gas station, delivering newspapers, and coaching at Coleman Middle-School. Despite the challenges, this was a good season for us. We grew and began to discover our calling to teach and pastor.

A door opened at a Teen Challenge facility in Muskegon, Michigan. While packing to move, I suffered a miscarriage that caused me to arrive at my new home weary and sad. We moved into the Men’s Center where we lived in a remodeled classroom located next to the furnace room. Though the snow piled higher than our windows, it felt like the Bahamas in our room! I accompanied my husband to various churches each weekend to sing where he preached, and prayed for a few people who came to the altar, but my weeks were void of Christian work. I gave myself to mothering our son, but felt a growing restlessness within. I looked for ways to serve. My heart ached to help.

Four months later, we spoke at another Assembly of God church in St. Charles, Michigan. That night, the pastor invited us to become their Youth Pastors! A few weeks later we were settled into a one-bedroom apartment in the small town, thrilled at the opportunity to serve in a local church once again. I loved it! I felt born-again! I jumped into the ministry with greater enthusiasm than before. I started and led Bible studies for the teen girls, assisted with activities, served on the Worship Team, taught in the nursery, and helped with Youth Ministry. Eventually I was asked to serve on the Michigan District Women’s Ministry Board of the Assemblies of God, overseeing the “Y” ministry (Young Women’s Ministry) for the state. I didn’t ask for it – they came to me! I simply stepped through the open door.

Two years flew by in a whirl of activity. I led another musical, traveled to other Michigan churches and meetings for the “Y” Ministry, and continued tending the growing Youth Ministry with my husband. I was shocked when approached to speak at a Women’s Aglow meeting in a nearby town. It was one thing to minister to teenage girls – speaking to my peers was another thing altogether! I instantly refused and then reversed my decision after much prayer and pressure from the Holy Spirit. I was intimidated and sick with fear all the way to the meeting…but when it was over, I couldn’t wait for a chance to share God’s Word again! I couldn’t explain it and really didn’t spend too much time evaluating it…I just knew that a light switched on inside whenever I taught the Word of God. It felt right. It flowed. God didn’t have to tell me I was called to teach; I just knew!

While pregnant with my daughter, Nicole, I was invited to sing for a new Christian television station. Though I was terribly nervous, hugged my dress to frame my large baby-belly, and forgot my name while being introduced, that night opened the door to a whole new arena of ministry. I became a regular on the station, singing for special events and programs. Over time, I was interviewed and allowed to share my testimony. My confidence was growing and I was becoming comfortable ministering in new ways.

It was during my hospital stay following the birth of my daughter that God turned my world upside down. My husband announced that God was redirecting us to start a church in Mt.Pleasant, Michigan. It would be a “faith move” void of details, financial security, or our wonderful friends. The move would cost me my home, security, many friends, and close most of the ministry doors I had so enjoyed. I resisted, whined, and begged God for an alternative, but eventually made the move with my man of God.

Now I found myself in a broken-down house, with ugly colors and outdated appliances in a town where I had no friends. As the weather turned cool that fall, I shoveled snow from the upstairs hallway where it came in through the holes in the roof. I washed our clothes in the bathtub and rigged a vinyl tablecloth to catch the drippings as they dried on hangers clipped to the shower-curtain rod. Our basement flooded and destroyed many of my keepsakes, as well as the boxes of clothing gathered for the poor. We ate outdated canned goods that came from a generous soul that gave my baby daughter and I a bad case of food poisoning. I wish I could say I sacrificed gladly, but the truth was I hated every minute of it. I dreamed of returning to St. Charles and the life we’d left behind.

But there was no turning back. Soon we were pulling our children in a wagon and going door-to-door inviting people to the first church service. Then real ministry began! I led the worship, taught the children, prayed for the sick, took food and clothing to the poor, and prayed with the broken people we found. I had never encountered such need. It was overwhelming to me. I taught, counseled, cooked, and cleaned. Our spare bedroom became a revolving door for the homeless. Slowly we became settled in our new church and began to make friends with members of our congregation.

I thought it was especially unfair when God replaced me leading worship and left me in the children’s ministry. From television and itinerant teacher to babysitting four children on a hallway floor…how could this be God??? I soon discovered my steps were led by God. As I adjusted my heart and perspective, He gave me His heart for the children. Before long, I realized that I had been called to be a Children’s Pastor. I knew I would minister to children for the rest of my life. Fireworks went off inside whenever I taught, held, or prayed for them. Just as I had discovered my call to teach God’s Word, I now stumbled into this discovery.

During those early years of our church, I poured my effort into the children’s ministry. I arranged special activities, children’s revivals, and Bible studies. I directed several children’s choirs. I worked with the court system and developed new materials to help children who had been abandoned or abused. My husband and I were a team, preaching, teaching, counseling, praying, visiting, leading, and mentoring the new believers. Our schedule was intense, but we didn’t mind. We were giving our all for Jesus!

Since then I have led or been involved in every area of ministry in the local church except the men’s ministry! I have taught the Word of God to every age. I’ve helped to pioneer new aspects of ministry and assisted my husband in his work. Twenty-two years later, I am leading the Women’s Ministry, serving on the prophetic presbytery, teaching in the local church and our School of Ministry, and participating in the ever-evolving responsibilities of a growing ministry. Along the way, I discovered a third “calling” to the nations – a calling that embraced both the yearning to teach God’s Word and my undying love for children. An international ministry was birthed outside the walls of the local church that continues today.

I have come to the conclusion over the many years of ministry, that we are often too concerned over personal destiny, calling, and/or fulfillment. Perhaps it is not necessary to know ahead of time all we will be and do for the kingdom of God. They key seems to be found in living a life of daily obedience to and sincere love for our Father. As we allow Him to lead our lives, our feet find their way into the heart of our destiny. In truth, our “calling” is one part of a larger plan of redemption that God is orchestrating around the world. We are joining with Him in His effort to bring His lost children home. Regardless of our spiritual giftings or personal talent, we are no more than His Voice, His hands, His arms extended to a lost and dying world. Our sense of fulfillment comes from living and working alongside the Lover of our souls – our true heart’s desire…from knowing that everything we do has eternal significance>…from experiencing our Father’s pleasure and witnessing the miracle of transformation His Word renders in every life.

A Word to the Wise…

Therefore my word of wisdom to the beautiful, gifted, talented, anointed women who are struggling to find their purpose and calling is: Stop! Enjoy the journey. Take your eyes off of YOU and fix them on the One you love. Let ministry be about HIM, not about you. Seek God and live a life-style of obedience. Let Him lead. Trust Him. In the end, He will order your steps into the destiny prepared for you since the beginning of time.

Life with Jesus is an adventure! I cannot say I’ve always enjoyed the element of mystery that seems to accompany the journey, but I love the surprises! Darkness always gives way to light. The fog lifts and the path becomes clear. As one who has been serving God for nearly 30 years in full-time ministry, I can promise you – He won’t forget you AND He will not waste the rich deposit He has placed within you. He’s working a great redemption plan and you have a part to play. Don’t get in a hurry! He will make sure you arrive at your destination at exactly the right time and with everything you need to succeed.

Thoughts to Ponder…

How has God’s calling evolved in your life?

Do you struggle with knowing/finding your personal destiny or purpose? Why?

Do you get in a hurry to see your calling fulfilled? Are you often restless?

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