How have you been created to minister?

Written Sunday October, 16th 2011

Today I did my devotions in Barnes and Noble.  I couldn't focus (imagine that), however the Lord used this time to give me some clarity. 

For about a year know I have had the word simplicity in the forefront of my mind.  I have tried to simplify my life in many different ways and yet all that I do doesn't seem fulfill what God means in my life. For about a year I slowed my social life down quite a bit.  Stopped going out, stayed home spent time with just a few people.  Slowed down at work... and yet all of this I still don't feel as though that was the correct simplifying of my life.  What does the Lord want me to do?  This has been my prayer recently. 

Today, as I was sitting in Barnes and Noble reading in Hebrews.  I looked up to see a group of four sitting at a table, all were easily over the age of 70.  There were two girls and two boys sitting there laughing and enjoying the company of each other and their coffee or tea.  I smiled and thought with the amount of joy they have.  I instantly thought, I'll bet they know the Lord. 

Behind them sat an older gentleman in a wheel chair, I would guess somewhere in his late 50's.  He read the paper alone and would look up every once in awhile to glance around. Almost as if to see if anyone was watching him.  The rest of the cafe in B&N was filled with the young and old, some reading, others talking and even some doing their homework. 

My mind started to wonder which of these people in here know the Lord and/or which would come to know the Lord before their last day on earth.  Than a heaviness came upon my heart as I thought, most of them probably do not know Jesus or will ever know Jesus.  For the word says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14 I was so saddened by this, that I almost started crying in Barnes and Noble.  How funny would that have been for people walking by.  A young adult girl sitting drinking coffee, reading her Bible with tears streaming down her face.  I held back my tears.

At first I thought, well what can I do.  What is my place in the Kingdom of God?  Am I called to stand up on a table in B&N and preach the gospel?  To walk over to the lonely man and speak with him?  What am I called to do? 

As I prayed and searched for the answer I was reminded of the passage in Roman 12 which talks about the body of Christ.  I was reminded of how we are all a part of the body of Christ.  We are not the whole body ourselves, but each of us make up a single part.  As I continued to pray it was as though the Lord was opening my eyes to what he meant with the word simplicity as well. 

I started to ask myself the following questions:  What part of the body are you?  Are you the mouth which is called to speak the words of Christ?  Are you the ears which are called to listen to those around you?  Are you the hand or the feet?  Or the eyes of Christ?  Which one are you called?  How are you called to minister?

The church, my family, the ranch and many other things have crafted the way that I feel I am supposed to do ministry.  I have always felt that I am supposed to be outgoing, make everyone feel as though they are my friend, be a good listener, give good advise, pray pray pray... and the list goes on and on.  Many times, I feel as though I am not able to minister for the Lord, because I don't do a lot of those things well.

Today I felt clarity!  The Lord showed me that each of us is called to minister in different ways.  And these are some of the ways that I have been called to minister:

I LOVE to see people succeed in what they are doing.  Or even to see things succeed.  Whether it is a friend that has desired to do something and they are moving forward in it.  Or a horse that has fear and chooses to move past it and trust.  For the sister in Christ who needs someone to talk to, to  be able to process thought out and have clarity.  I love those things.  I love it when I can help someone do their job better, serve them and allow them to get the credit.  I love to serve not in the forefront but on the backside... I love to have people feel included and feel as though they have a friend.  These are the ways that I minister.

For so long I felt as though I wasn't making a difference in the Kingdom of God.  Today I realized I am not called to simplify the things that I am doing but to simplify the way that I bring people to Christ...  I have been running around trying to do, to be, to minister in the ways that I think people want me to. I have been trying to be the mouth or the feet of the body, when I am just called to be the pinkie finger.  :) 

My challenge for all of you who read this is to take some time in the next few weeks and ask the Lord which part of the body you are created to be?  Are you thriving, living and doing your best in that area or are you trying to conform, trying to become a part that you are not?  Consider how God has created you to minister to the people around you?  How he has created you to glorify him.  Are you the eyes of the body?  Called to glorify God through what you see?  Or are you the feet, called to travel to take the news of the gospel?  Are you the mouth, called to speak and proclaim the gospel? 

I leave you with 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,^[e] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.^[f]

¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

²² In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³ And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴ while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

The Lord and horses

Oh man... what to say.  I just read Lashae Bowen's blog, and I felt like her.  I don't even know where to start or what to blog about. 

Life is good, so good!  I also just read Jenae Brewer's blog too and I feel like her (in different ways) but the feeling of being both blessed and overwhelmed at the same time. 

Life is busy between the ranch and doing two online classes.  I leave for work around 8am and am usually there till 7pm.  I get home just in time to do a little homework so that I can try to stay on top of it.  Friday-Sunday are the days to do lots of homework, because it is all due either on Saturday or Sunday. 

Yet I feel so blessed in life as well.  The Lord has reminded me of the passion I have for the ranch.  Sometimes, I think we all do in different ways, I get into slumps of wondering why I do what I do.  What the purpose is behind it all?  If life will ever change?  It is during these times that I loose my passion for working at the ranch... and then it becomes just a job.

Yet lately the Lord has reminded me of just how much I love what I do.  Each day I go in I am overwhelmed by my love for this ministry.

Today and tomorrow we are doing a horse clinic.  This afternoon I left the ranch so excited about riding horses.  *Riding horses is another passion of mine that I forget how much I truly love*  Although my horse, Libby and I weren't perfect, just spending time with her brought me so much joy.  I came home and couldn't help but to be joy filled. 

I think what I love about riding the most is that it constantly reminds me of my walk with the Lord.  Many times when I ride, or I see others ride, and I come in with an agenda.  I have my plan in place of what I am going to do.  I don't listen, don't pay attention to what the horse is telling me.  I just saddle up (or for me just jump on bareback) and get to work.  Then if my horse bucks, or is frustrated or not "obeying me" I usually do one of two things.  1 - ride them through it, force them to listen to me to submit to me.  2 - I just get off and put them back, not wanting to take the time to deal with 'their' issues.


I am always learning that I just have to take time, to practice, to wait for the horse to connect with me.  I have to know how to listen, to read the horses silent body language which shares with me what they are trying to say, maybe even why they are having a sticky spot.  Sometimes I need to back off what I am doing and just go back to the simple basics of spending time with the horse on the ground. 

How often do I do the same thing to the Lord?  I come in with my agenda, ready to do some work for His Kingdom and yet I am not truly listening to him, communicating with him and allowing him to lead.  And when I don't hear from him, when I don't feel as though understand what He is saying to me, I get frustrated and leave.  Instead of taking the time to wait, to be patient, to practice hearing his voice and communicating with Him.  Just like the horses both sometimes need me to be quite, to wait, to set aside my agenda willing and ready to read the silent body language... and both need me to practice!  Then, just like the horse, we can move, adventure and understand one another.

Wow, this blog took a different direction than I was planning.  :-)  But that is what I came home thinking about today.  Hope it encourages each of you.

Below is something I wrote I think back in 2006 - when I was in College in Eugene.  Charise and I were talking about this tonight and she told me I should place it on my blog.  At first I wasn't going to do it... but as I have been writing, I feel as though it shares a piece of my heart right now.  Not all of my heart, as I said I feel very blessed in all that is going on.  Yet there is part of me that longs for more, that feels a storm that could overwhelm me brewing inside of me.  Reading this tonight was such a good reminder to me to come to the Father.  Above all else, to allow my relationship with him be the top priority in my life.  I hope you enjoy.

A dance, an elegant waltz for my Creator. So magnificent that it will be eternally engraved into the essence of my soul.

Leisurely I stepped out of my car, on to a stage already in play. The music had already begun with the hushed sounds of the river that lay to the right of me. Slow black brooding clouds were starting to stretch across the sky. A stillness that was lingering was interrupted by a soft wind. Slow, gentle, russling through the trees. Almost as though a ballerina was flowing, twirling to the music, gradually as the music speeds so does her movements. Up, the lifeless, fallen leaves rise from the ground, awakened by the breath of wind. And explosion of vibrant colors: Oranges, yellows, browns engulf my surroundings. Flittering, fluttering to the music of the wind.

The melancholy clouds above, now draped, towering down over the earth, circling slowing into a whirlpool of blackness.

Than it came, the pinnacle of the play, I was now part of it. My soul trapped, being tossed by the wind. Emotions, the words of others joined dancing, mocking, nestled around me. One step, two steps, I felt the rich soil dappled in moisture between the toes of my bare feet. The coolness of the ground sent a burst of energy inside me. My pace quickened with each step, I was trying to run, fast, far away from the whirlwind amidst me. Away, away form the gossip, the noise of the city, into the creation of my Lord. Desperately searching, running, looking for something, someone to end the storm inside me.

For just a moment I heard Him, through the thunderous uproar, a gentle whisper, “Come away, My beloved. Come, run to Me…” A sensation of peace, joy came upon me. I knew in that moment, I was in the presence of the Almighty Father.

 ~Kelsie J. Patka 2006