I love to watch how God works in His people's lives, like watching a garden grow. Things go along & go along & seemingly nothing much happens & then, all of a sudden, there's a wonderful flower!
Liddy's gift is missions & outreach. She has been quietly exercising her gift on the island & has a group of girls she wants to bring to church. I am calculating the number of seats in her small car & we have been discussing which service would be best as we have yet to go to an actual youth service. I wish she had her open license as that would free her up a seat but we work with what we have, right?
Her new job has been going along nicely too...until she was asked about working weekends as they'd like her in a supervisory role at those times. Liddy is a tad worried. She doesn't want to jeopardise her new job but we have church & soccer commitments. The soccer we think we can juggle but church is something of a worry unless we commit to the evening service, which, coincidentally is the youth service. Another evening I'm not home & we will be eating funny meals. Watching all the ducks line up in a row leaves me gasping.
When things start happening they tend to happen quickly. Liddy has girls asking to come to church with us & we are planning an evening service soon if the weather will only co~operate. Ditz, who has been the lone ranger in church for so many years has been absolutely delighted to find other kids her own age who are committed Christians & that she can invite her own friends along as well ~ so long as we have the seats available. I will be very interested to see how the youth service differs from the main service myself & what music they choose to use.
I'm not the social bunny in this house, merely the chauffeur for all the social bunnies so I am always surprised when things fall in my lap; & fall they must. I never seek them out. People like Liddy, who actively outreach astonish me, not because I am embarrassed by Christ, but because I always remember how much I hated people badgering me about Christianity when I wasn't a Christian & what a waste of time it was speaking to me so I never do it myself. I think it's rude when it's unsolicited. Liddy is always being asked things that allow her to speak about the gospel. I rarely am. However I do get the ocassional odd request like the one I got last week.
'I'm not a church going peron myself but next time you're in church would you say a prayer for me?'
Answer: yes, of course. I'd like to have added, but wouldn't you rather talk to God yourself, face to face, so to speak only I've discovered people have some funny ideas about God & only ask because they don't feel able to pray themselves so I guess that's my prayer for this particular person: that they are enabled to approach the throne of grace on their own behalf.
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We have a very active soulwinning ministry at our church but I seldom go. Some of the pople though really work hard in that ministry.
I am a social bunny. I love people!
you know i have felt similarly to you about the whole concept of "witnessing." it does seem somehow rude and intrusive to share with people who have expressed no interest, so i rarely do so. i do try to be open about who i am and what i believe.. very very open:)
my son though is an avid sharer of the gospel. we are the only believers in our immediate neighborhood and he talks with everyone, and usually manages to bring up the Lord:) i think he has a soul winner's heart. i, on the other hand, have the gift of mercy which definitely has value, but soul winning isn't one of my strengths...
Mrs D, I like people but they tire me & then I need alone time to recuperate ~ chocolate coffee & a good book.:)
Diane, I'm better at teaching ~ surprise, surprise ~ The really practical, useful gifts have escaped me & hospitality terrifies me ~ all that work. I start stressing & it's no fun but point me in the direction of research & say you want to know something, well then I'm your woman!
has a group of girls she wants to bring to church
Miss Cinders keeps trying to do this sort of thing here - we have one girl who does often go with us and also joined the kids club with Cindy, but the others, well....some of them have been quite unkind to her about it.
About Liddy's job and weekends - should it jeopardize her job if she explained that she already had prior commitments on weekends? She was hired for a work-week job, it sounds like...if they're now talking about liking to have her on the weekend, well, she wasn't hired with that....it's not fair of them to expect it now. Or at least, that's my take on that... if she'd agreed to weekends when they hired her, it would be diff...but it doesn't sound like it...
Howdy!
For as long as we've been married, I have been running everyone elses kids to church along with my own. I always let our kids know that as long as there was room, I was willing to take their friends. Over the years I have logged a lot of miles on the van as well as eavesdropped on a lot of different conversations. Ours is the house where the kids hang out and all of that is fine with me.
Our youngest Charlie, is the one who typically has had the most friends come to church. It frustrates him though because a lot of them are in it for the social aspect more than growing spiritually. (This is Wednesday night Youth Group by the way and not Sunday service)I have told him that he never knows what seed is being planted in their lives that may come back and "root" at the appropriate time. It may even be that as an adult they realize that something is missing and because of his outreach, they decide to "give God a try" because of what they saw in him and our family.
I am not comfortable with street corner Evangelism. For me personally, I feel like you have to EARN the right to be as "nosy" as that. I feel like that comes from being building relationships with people and being open and honest about my relationship with God at the same time.
God uses us in different ways according to our Spiritual gifts and abilities. For one who is "wired up" and is at ease confronting people about the state of their souls, I lift my hat! At the same time, I would expect that they would be as gracious with those of us who are wired up differently.
I think staying in touch with the Holy Spirit is the key here. I believe that there could be times when the HS might bypass what is the usual with us and because of urgency, have us take a different route.
Thanks for the thought-provoking post today! It's still early here but since I am on my 2nd cup of coffee now, my brain waves are actually functioning!
have a wonderful day!
Connie
Praise the Lord for the local outreach that Liddy is doing! Not that "overseas" missions are wrong, but it has been on my heart for some time to encourage and equip our youth to do outreach according to their gifts and talents right here in our local communities as well. It's exciting that Liddy has started this on her own!
girlie... teaching *is* just about the most useful practical gift there is! i tried and tried to have that gift (as if trying was going to spontaneously produce it or something, lol) but the Lord has other plans for me it appears. i think i have mercy almost to a fault (is that possible?) i do appreciate it, but honestly it doesn't seem to have a whole lotta usefulness, know what i mean?
i think you sound a lot like my oldest daughter, louisa. she is a voracious learner, very easy to teach, even for me;)
Heidi, everything has sort of been on hold as Liddy wasn't comfortable inviting anyone to any of the little island churches. The one we were going to is all older members & not youth orientated in a way Lid felt comfortable as an introduction. We are travelling to the mainland to a church with a strong missions & outreach focus founded on strong teaching & she's already taken her first *visitor* along. She wants to reach the street kids in Brazil but everyone has a training ground & Liddy still has lots to learn & here's a good place to do that.
Diane, I live in a household that seriously lacks in the mercy department so it is a gift I value highly; it brings the grace of God into situations like oil to grease sticky wheels.
I love to learn & to share what I've learnt & that is never a burden to me but because I am female I've had people try & get me in the kitchen dishing out hospitality etc & these are areas I am very bad in & which are a huge burden to me...oh & they make me very cross & unpleasant too. I've got stibborn now & refuse to be pushed into areas I know bring out all my worst attributes. Yeah, I know, hard to believe isn't it, but I do have some. :D
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