Several of you asked me about how I got into ministry.  I wish I could tell you three well defined steps that led me to this place where I’m at today doing what I know I was made to do.  But my journey was not well defined nor were there easy steps.  I stumbled here.  A most unlikely girl with a wildly headstrong attitude who never like women’s conferences or most women for that matter.

Growing up I had some girlfriends but as I moved into high school and college all my best friends were guys.  They were simpler and less dramatic.
And with the whole church thing…. My mom definitely believed in taking my sister and me to church when she could but my Dad was an atheist who wanted nothing to do with our religion.

So wouldn’t you know it, God decides to call me- the girl who isn’t into girls or women’s conferences and who was partly raised by an atheist- to help start Proverbs 31 Ministries.  Though I must tell you I had nothing to do with the name of our ministry.

My friend who asked me to join her in getting this ministry off the ground named it.  I was with the ministry for close to 4 months before it occurred to me that maybe I should read Proverbs chapter 31 in the Bible.  I had never done that.  Clue number 479 of why I thought I was a bad candidate to help start this ministry- I wasn’t exactly overflowing with Biblical knowledge.

So, I had an argument with God after reading Proverbs 31, telling Him all the reasons He had definitely called the wrong gal to be part of a ministry named after a woman who truly had it all together.

At that point in my life, I had one child who made me cry every day with feelings of being completely overwhelmed and a husband I was mad at all the time.  And did I mention that I didn’t much like women or going to women’s conferences?  So there.

But God.

I love those two words when you put them together.

He makes a way where there is no way.  He loves to use unlikely people so He gets all the credit for any good that comes from their frail and faulty efforts.  I’m convinced He wasn’t looking for the most qualified person, He was simply looking for a woman who would dare to say yes to Him with enough headstrong tenacity to never give up.

Often God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies those that He calls.

So why has this ministry been successful?  How in the world did God ever grow this ministry from the tiniest seed to where it is today?

I’m convinced my job all along was never to figure out how to grow the ministry or even to run a successful ministry.  My job all along was to simply be obedient to God.  My job was obedience, God’s job was results.

I had to be obedient to God in the small things and the big things.  Some days as a woman in ministry my big job was to change diapers with a good attitude and apologize to my husband for acting so stubborn.  Other days it was to have coffee with a woman and simply listen to her heart.  Still other days it was to write an article that would be read by all 35 readers of our small little newsletter.

You see God never let this ministry outgrow my capacity to be obedient to Him.

As He found me faithful with the little things, bigger opportunities were entrusted to me.  But it all unfolded very, very slowly.  This ministry has been 17 years of waking up each day, lifting up my willingness to be obedient to God that day, and simply following wherever He leads me with a “yes” heart.

And learning to absolutely fall in love with God and His girls… oh yes and women’s conferences too.

If you feel God’s tug to be in ministry, let it unfold slowly.  And realize you can start today.  Simply ask God to place that one ‘obedience’ assignment in front of you today and say yes.  Who knows what could possibly start from there…

Lysa
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