How thankful I am that in my life, there have been some
incredible women who invested in me. The wife, mother, and youth ministry
leader who shared her daily life with me as she raised her children and
ministered alongside her husband. The
woman who took me under her wing as I stepped onto a college campus and into a
sorority, ambitious to start a bible study, with no idea where to begin. The
women at the camp I worked at for many summers who let me make mistakes, learn
from experience, and guided me as I learned what servant leadership was all
about. The incredible wisdom that was
shared with me from a woman who poured in weekly to me as I set out in
full-time youth ministry after college, helping to shape my prayer life and my
daily surrender to the Lord.
All of them could have said…."I don’t know how, or I don’t have time, or I’m not the right person, I’m just not gifted that way."
They offered to let me be a part of their story. The one
that the Lord was writing in their lives. Just by sharing their lives with me.
A couple weeks ago I received a message from a girl who was a
student in the youth ministry I worked for after college, the same youth ministry that was
monumental in my own life when I was in high school. I think what struck me most about her words
were that she was not thanking me for doing a certain thing, being a certain
type of person, spending an exorbitant amount of time…she literally said
“thanks for just being consistent and present.”
Just
being consistent and present. It’s so much more about the willingness than
anything else.
My favorite part is that nothing I did in being present or
consistent for her was anything of my own. It had been modeled for me by
the women who had invested in me. And
now…well she is now on staff with the ministry I worked for when she was a
student. Being “consistent and present” for a group of girls she is building relationships
with…
Jesus said the words to the disciples, "Go and make
disciples."
When I don’t know how to set about making disciples or I
think I don’t have anything to offer…I’ve got Him. That’s all I need.
All of us can do this.
Just be consistent and present. Share
our lives with others. And allow the Lord to do the rest.
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