Waiting Gracefully: Ministry

In addition to bringing sunshine to the lives of others, my time of waiting as a single young woman was a great opportunity to serve God.

A few ideas:

~ sign up to help deliver meals to people in your church. New moms, ones who have recently lost a loved one or undergone surgery are so blessed by not worrying about what their family will eat that night!

~ volunteer at church! If you know me, you know that I love to smile - I helped as a greeter at church for a few years during this time.

~ invest in children! Being able to utilize the church nursery and children's Sunday School now, I know what a blessing it is to parents to be able to take advantage of! Then, it was a blessing to me to help in the nursery, teach children's Sunday School, help in VBS, etc... Now, it is a blessing to me to know that others are willing to serve in this way.

~ be open to opportunity. One of my room-mates was asked to teach two little girls about God as their mom was not a believer but wanted her girls to have the opportunity to decide for themselves. After my room-mate moved, I continued this study and it grew to four little girls every Friday night! What a sweet opportunity!

~ embrace your flexibility. I can remember numerous times where I was able to go help someone or a group because I was available last minute. Yes, sometimes it upset my personal plans, but I was always glad that I had responded to the call and thankful that I was able to do those things for others.

~ get involved in your community. I love being involved at church, in my neighborhood and at home. But, I also really like the idea of doing something that impacts my community. At the time I was single, I joined the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary and it was a mutual blessing to be involved like that.

The ideas could go on and on - you get the picture and I'm sure you have lots of great ideas of your own to add!

Reach out! Invest yourself!