Growing in the ministry....

It must be my new found age, but I've found myself becoming quite content where life has led me.

Last week, Mr. Curly and I attended several days worth of district church meetings.  Tuesday I sat through a Nazarene Missions International meeting, and Wednesday we attended the annual District Assembly church meetings.

These meetings mean several worship services, lots of voting, many updates, and more information than I could possibly keep track of.

But the best thing I came home with was the feeling of pride, and being completely humbled, that I get to be part of the Nazarene church's ministry in Iowa.

See, I grew up a pastor's kid (most of you know).  And I married a pastor (which also, most of you know I said I would never do).  And for about 9 years now, I've been insisting that the ministry is Mr. Curly's ministry, not mine.  We're not a 2-for-1 deal.  He's the pastor, I'm just the wife.

But I've been teaching Sunday School for about a year, and leading worship for almost 2 months, and then I was elected Missions president.
Last Sunday I gave the message at church.  It was basically just a missions update, but I stood on the platform, in the preacher's spot, and shared what God put on my heart.

And it felt good.  It felt good to take part in Mr. Curly's church, to be part of his ministry.  Honestly, it felt RIGHT.  Like God had led me to it, that He had been preparing me for it.

It's strange to tell people happily that I'm leading worship - that's an idea I've fought against since I started taking piano lessons at 8 years old!  It's odd to say "yes, I'm the missions president - come to our next meeting, I've got the coolest things planned!"

After so many years of saying "I'm not in the ministry" it is odd to find myself pleased, humbled, proud, and having fun, being in the ministry.

God calls us all.... some of us just fight longer than others to find our place.