Thoughts on Serving
by Nancy Ludwig
Within the past four years, two major events have occurred to redirect the focus of my life: I retired from a job that I had held for almost 31 years; and my husband was named an elder in our church. These events have begun to teach me new things about service, giftedness, and the importance of staying open to surprises.
If you’re like me, you may have a pursuit or vocation that you have practiced and perfected over many years. You feel confident of your giftedness in this area and may reasonably expect that God wants you to use it in service to Him. It feels comfortable, familiar, and satisfying – an offering that you are ready to give cheerfully and wholeheartedly to the Lord.
What happens when God asks you to do something else for Him instead?
I loved my job as a writer, editor, and proofreader. Although I wasn’t producing materials that specifically talked about God, I felt that I could represent Him in my workplace by gently shaping our communications to be as truthful, gracious, and uplifting as possible. When I led meetings or coordinated review teams, I encouraged mutual respect and discussion styles that honored God and blessed my coworkers. The work was sometimes stressful, but for the most part I felt safe, competent, and independent. I worked mostly in the background, mostly alone, and I liked it that way. When I retired, I thought surely God would take all of those skills I had developed at my secular job and have me use them to do “real kingdom work” (as if there is a distinction between the two!).
Then my husband was approached to be considered for the role of an elder.
To be honest, although the request went to Mike, I was intimidated. I believed in Mike’s qualifications – humility, integrity, love of God’s word, ability to teach, willingness to share in the spiritual and emotional struggles of others and seek God’s wisdom to help them move forward. However, I was far less confident in my qualifications to be an elder’s wife. I knew that I would need to work right beside my husband in situations where a woman’s input might be particularly needed (facilitating mixed small groups, for example, or mentoring younger married couples). I would need to be willing and available on all occasions to live out the Christlike qualities of service and compassion. But nurturing relationships is so much harder than sitting at a desk in comfy solitude, checking facts and working out a well-turned phrase! Relationships carry much greater risks, with much higher stakes. Could I sign on for that? Could I be so selfish as to refuse?
I could not refuse. If my faith is to prove genuine, I must trust that the Lord knows what He’s doing when He calls anyone, including me, to a particular kind of service. I will choose to believe that I can open my home in hospitality to life groups, be a friend and listener to young wives and moms, do other things that I have never felt “gifted” to do before. I don’t have to master them in my own strength. The Master Himself will make me able.
Are you avoiding a persistent call to some kind of service out of fear that you may not be qualified? Are you disappointed those opportunities to use your particular gifts have not materialized as you expected? Let me encourage you with some truths the Holy Spirit has recently helped me learn (apparently, it’s never too late!). Chances are they may ring true for you as well:
God will never throw me in over my head and watch me drown. When I stop struggling and thrashing around, I find He is buoying me up and giving me whatever I need to meet the challenge. “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13
If I cling too hard to what I know, I may miss the new things God wants to do in my life, the work He has prepared especially for me. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
Hard things get easier when I go ahead and try them. Everything is much less scary when I remember that Jesus keeps His promises, and He will never leave me or forsake me in any circumstances. “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us that is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21
Take heart, friend. When God called your husband to be an elder, He knew full well that you were the other member of the partnership. He knows of qualities deep within you that are perfectly suited to His service, because He placed them there. You will not fail, because God will not fail you.
