Sitting in the local Arby’s at the beginning of my senior
year of college, Shay shared the news that he and Sarah would be moving to Martinsburg
to begin the journey of planting a church. While it was sad to hear they would be moving;
it was more exciting than anything to know they would be following God’s will.
During this conversation, Shay half-joked that after I graduated I should come
out and work with them. At the time, I
didn’t think much of it- I was too focused on actually graduating first.
As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months,
and my graduation date drew nearer, I began to prayerfully consider what I
would be doing after graduation. I had several options, one of which was working
with a local church in Charleston, WV. I applied for jobs as a sub, and began perusing
potential apartments. A week or two before graduation, Shay came to visit us at
Marshall University. It was during this meet up that he brought up moving to
Winchester again… but this time very seriously. I still thought it was almost a
half-joke, but decided to begin praying about it. So pray I did.
I weighed my options… and felt that God was leading me
towards Winchester. But I second-guessed myself because I knew that Charleston
was a more comfortable and viable option. I have great friends in Charleston, I
love the church that I had begun to attend, I knew I could get a job easily,
and would still be only an hour from my school family in Huntington. But that
was the problem. It was the comfortable choice. It was the choice that God could
still work through, and I wanted to be comfortable. The fact of the matter is
though, when we choose Christ, especially accepting a calling of ministry; we
are choosing and accepting to step out of our comfort zone.
One of my summer events was to serve as the Bible study
leader for a junior camp in Cowen, WV. Our theme for the week was basically the
pursuit of God in our lives (how we pursue Him, and how He pursues us). It was
through this week and through earnest seeking that I began to realize what God
was calling me to do. God was calling me to step of my comfort zone… to pursue
Him as He had been pursuing me. And suddenly it hit me. This was something I
had to do.
The calling is clear, and God is with me. God has indeed
called me to be more than a comfortable church-goer… God has a plan for my life
and chosen me to serve Him through life-long ministry. I can’t really tell you
what that looks like for the rest of my life, I can’t even tell you what that
will look like in a year or two. What I know now is that He has in fact called
me to minister to the lost of Winchester; in particular to use the talents He
has given me in ministering to the children.
The beginning of Hebrews says:
1-2The fundamental fact of existence is
that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything
that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of
faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3By faith, we see the world called
into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.
And with this faith, I am saying yes!
