Have you ever heard the hymn, "this is my story, this is my song?"have you ever been singing it and just thought about how this is your story this is your song and made it about yourself carrying out the Gospel to others? When I hear the hymn it's easy for me to think "my story" "my song" hey, so this must be about me. But I forget that 2nd part the part that goes "praising my Savior all the day long."
When we think of ministry we often think of the things that seem worthwhile. We think about how many people we can get to come out to this event or how many kids can we save at this Bible Club. That's not real ministry though. Sometimes ministry can be the things that don't seem worthwhile at first. Sometimes ministry is baby-sitting the pastor's kids so he and his wife can have a night out. It's doing yard work for the youth pastor who has a lot on his plate. It's not about getting teens saved or even getting them to go to church but giving teens a space to ask questions about the God or the Bible.
It's the little things that you feel aren't worthwhile but later on you learn were helpful. It's not about the numbers in a church but a church's willingness to genuinely love their congregation and invest into them and point them to Jesus.
See, "our story" or "our song" needs that second part. As the hymn goes "praising my Savior all the day long" is "our story". That is "our song". Praising our Savior doesn't mean the things that bring us the most glory or make us feel the most useful or comfortable. Praising our Savior means doing whatever is going to bring him the most glory even though it may not feel like it at the moment.
It's been a heck of a summer, and I am processing so much. I've learned to surf, met refugees, consumed more ice cream on a daily basis than any human being should, had great conversations, sang VBS songs over and over again and had late night dance parties complete with facial masks and crisps. There's been a lot of ups and a lot of downs but God has been faithful to our team and has worked in all of us. The American interns fly out this Thursday. Please keep all of them in your prayers. Pray for the bittersweet goodbyes and smooth transitions back home. Pray for our Irish, Northern Irish and American interns and that they would not forget all they have learned this summer and that they would continue to fix their eyes on Jesus.
As always thank you for your prayers and support!
Grace and Peace,
Amy
