"NEW" Details...Part 3...

More "NEW" for you today...

This one is so exciting to me!!! And I need to back track a little in time to give you the details.

I have been in church my entire life. I was taught at an early age to be involved in the local body of believers and have always been actively involved serving in my church. Whether it was singing, playing the piano, helping with VBS or the nursery...I was always involved. 

Dave and I began attending Fellowship in Oct 2009. I came from a traditional church setting and so the contemporary way of doing church was new to me. So, for a while I sat and soaked and observed. And looking back I needed that time of rest and even more importantly-growth! 

A few years ago the Lord started stirring in me...what was next?? What was going to be the way I serve in my local church body?? I started thinking about ways I had served in the past...music, kids ministry, teen ministry, women's ministry...where would God have me now??

As I began to think about those things, I thought of the verse that says, "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." And then I started to think over my life...

I have faced a lot of difficulties in life...from my childhood on. I know the pain many women walk in through this life. I've experienced divorce, which included infidelity. I have done the marrying a second time and blending a family and I know the difficulties and challenges that can brings. I have done the fight of cancer. Then terminal cancer. I know widowhood. I know the prodigal child. I know the echo of singleness. I know single parenting (twice). I know marriage hardship. And other areas of life hardship...

BUT, I also know the One who got me through it all...

AND I love to tell my story of the One who got me through it all...

And I saw where God was calling me to serve.

Women. 

So, I started to think about and seek how I would serve in that capacity. And God began to open some doors. 

The first was with a non-profit organization called the "Lily Closet". Our purpose is to minister to single parents and provide clothing and out reach to them. When I joined I wasn't a single parent, but I know single parent and I have a heart for them and the load they carry. It was an obvious door that God had opened for me and I walked through it. It has been such a blessing to minister with this group over the past couple of years. And it was a start in my call to minister to women.

The next door that opened was to take over our Friday morning Bible study at church. I have now been in charge of that for 2 years and I love our time together each week. My first Bible study changed my life and I pray other women experience life change through our time as well. It knits hearts and provides that connecting that we as women need with the loads we carry in this life! It has been a gift to be able to walk in this calling!

A couple of years ago, I looked around my church and knew we needed more. I even approached a couple of our pastors and tried to get things going, but God seemed to say "Wait." I wasn't sure why at the time, but trusted His timing and purpose.

Last October after Dave had passed away and I was settling into the new life in front of me, I felt like God was saying to begin. So, I set up a meeting with a couple of ladies that I felt God had directed me to approach and we got our heads together about what was next...we needed ideas to share with the leadership and a goal. And we knew we needed more for women at Fellowship. We came up with the idea to do a survey and see what feedback we got from the women we wanted to minister to. The pastors thought it was a good idea so we did it...and the response was amazing...the response was God saying "YES!"

I didn't know it...but at the same time that this was going on, God was stirring in the hearts of some other ladies in the church. When the survey came out, they contacted me and wanted to meet and share what God was doing in them. We had no idea at the time, but one lady in our church was already planning on doing the Priscilla Shirer simulcast in the spring...God was all over the "YES NOW" for the women of our church. We began meeting together and the Lord was leading and opening doors for the women. It was such an exciting time of YES from the Lord!!

We have had several organized events for the women this year. We have more Bible study options than before. We are planning our first one day conference for February 7th (and not just for the women of our church, for anyone interested!) It is so exciting to be part of this work..this calling that God has in my life.

As we met and prayed about what God had for us in leadership, we prayed also for God to direct in the structure of our ministry and He has done so. Our leader asked us to each pray what area we were to serve in the leadership team. God led me to co-leader of prayer. The "ironic" thing is, that over the past couple of years, God has been deepening my prayer walk. I had no idea He would call me to serve in that way in the leadership team for the women of our church. It has been an honor and privilege for me!!! I am thankful!

So, the "NEW" today that I share is my calling. A call to reach out and encourage women. 

Women who carry the weight of the world on their shoulder and just need to connect with other women who carry the same weight load.
Women who have a hard, empty marriage.
Women with a prodigal.
Women who hear the word "cancer".
Women who bury their husband.
Women who walk through being cheated on.
Women who are lonely.
Women who are the only parent in their home.
Women who have ghosts from the past yelling in their ears.
Women who need to see themselves the way God sees them!
Women who hurt.

Women.

I am blessed and honored that God placed this desire in my heart. It has been a thrilling adventure to meet with other women of our church and plan and follow what God is doing. It thrills my heart when I sit in a room packed with women and SEE what God has done in the past year for the women there! What an amazing adventure it has been! And I am so thankful I got to sit and watch it all unfold!!! 

"NEW"!!!