roughly a month ago my squad was blessed with the opportunity to leave campus and do human traffic ministry with a local organization! this was so exciting for so many reasons, one of the main ones being that that was the first time we’d been able to do outreach as a team! we’d been learning all about how to most effectively do ministry for almost two months, so it was refreshing to be able to actually go out and serve.
when i heard we were doing this ministry i thought to myself “wow i get to go single-handedly free people from slavery!” but then i learned that what we were doing was having a little block party for a neighborhood who is dramatically affected by the traffic industry. I’m not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed. I really wanted to do something where I was going to get to experience real rapid tangible change. so after being humbled by God saying “hey actually you’re not the one doing the work, I am”, my squad and I jumped into the ministry opportunity prayerfully, and maybe even a little skeptically too (because how much change can happen through a 3-hour long block party?).
we started going door to door inviting people to the party and it was starting to gradually make sense to me that planting seeds for God to come in and fertilize is more important than I thought it was. it was a huge slap in the face to me because I want to make a difference in the world and I thought the only acceptable change was an immediate and complete change. Romans 12:12 says to be “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing in constant prayer”. I was missing this entirely. God is blessing me in the way He’s helping me to grow into seeing where I need to be patient in tribulation. He’s showing me how to be joyful in my hope for the future, instead of melancholic and self-reliant. He’s showing me how I cannot demand immediate change, but partner with the Lord in hopes that He does marvelous things in HIS time. He’s teaching me that I have to be patient and prayerful in the way I seek and hope for redemption.
I’m blessed by God not giving me a full understanding of all the growth and the seeds that were planted that day, because if I did know it’d be so easy for my ego to get involved. we were able to worship with the neighbors, give them food, play games with them, make friendship bracelets with the little kids, and to have really good God-centered conversations. God gave us this opportunity to create a Christ-centered environment with people who didn’t know God, with people who hadn’t been out of their house since march when COVID started breaking out, and with some people who we could not even begin to understand what they were going through in life. you never know what people are going through or what impact you could have in their life, so in Jesus’ name, bless everyone abundantly! rely on Holy Spirit to move through you in whatever ways He wants to move, and He will move.
I do not know you Megan, but thank you for sharing from your devotion. What a wonderfully appropriate prayer of gratitude and praise.
Clayton, thank you for sharing your heart and your struggles with such transparency. In doing so you encourage others (me) to keep loving and laboring, and trusting God to use it for His purposes.
God Bless! Perry
A GOOD WORD!!!! Mr Clayton.
Matthew 5:16 (NRSV)
… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Clayton-I read your blog and then I read my daily devotional. The fit was perfect so I wanted to share it with you. Here is the prayer from the end of the devotional:
Holy God – thank you! Thank you for the people who came before us to build up your church. Thank you for the people all around me who are your church today. Thank you for a sense of assurance about the future. Thank you for the privilege of serving others and serving with others. Amen.
I love reading how the Lord is using and growing you. ??
A heart turned into question marks. 🙂