Today we continue our series "Living as a Single Christian Woman" with Ann from Ann's Thoughts. I have been very excited to hear that our series has encouraged several woman. I love to hearing how God has used this platform.
If you've been encouraged, challenged or have questions, please leave a comment or email me. ________________________________________________________
Have you ever felt that you were up against a wall in regards to living out your true heart’s passion? If you could just get past that one last hurdle all would be fine! Oh, you’d really feel alive then! If only…
That thought especially plagues single women. I know. I was one! I had such a strong passion to minister to women. But, I also knew I was going to be a pastor’s wife. So, naturally, I just “knew” that when I got married, I’d be able to fulfill that passion to minister to women. After all, as a pastor’s wife I’d have the credibility I felt I lacked as a single woman. But it’s hard to be a pastor’s wife without being married to a pastor. So, the passion would just have to wait.
Or would it?
When I was twelve years old, I worked through a witness training program under the training of a young woman in her mid-twenties. In those sessions together, there were so many times when she would confide in me – a twelve year old – and discuss her life situation with me as if we were equals. She said I encouraged her greatly.
When I was sixteen I went on a tourist trip to Egypt with three single short-term missionaries from Jordan and Israel (my parents served on the mission field in Jordan), two female and one male. The two women spoke with me as if I were a fellow adult. They respected what I had to say to them and told me that I encouraged and strengthened them.
When I was a college freshman I was asked to share a devotional (it was emphasized that this was not to be my testimony) at a ladies’ retreat. There were over 100 women there, the majority of them silver-haired. Something this terrified nineteen-year-old shared ministered to the hearts of dozens of those women.
When I was a college senior I was invited to a women’s event at a church in my home town. I was the youngest woman – and the only single woman – in attendance. I was also the key speaker!
In all of these situations, and so many more, I was single, and I was ministering. Sometimes formally, and other times informally, but always ministering. With credibility.
I’m married now, and have been for ten years. And, yes, I’m a pastor’s wife, but only for the last four of those ten years. Yet somehow God has allowed me to minister to women in ways that I never could have fathomed or arranged even if I had been a pastor’s wife the entire time!
If you feel as if you’re waiting for circumstances to allow your usefulness, keep a few things in mind:
- The only thing that limits your usefulness to God is your own unwillingness. His ability is sufficient for any circumstance when you choose to rely on Him. A willing vessel is a phenomenal tool in the hands of our Father.
- The world’s view of usefulness is very different from God’s. Ask Him to open your eyes – you might be surprised to see where He’s already using you! Meanwhile, be willing to have your horizons broadened as you learn to be useful outside of that proverbial box.
- There will be times when, no matter how you look at it, you will still FEEL totally useless. Realize first of all that those times will come even after you are married and your hurdles have supposedly been jumped. That’s just life. Realize secondly that you are always being taught. And learning is just as much a part of living as doing!
_________________________________________________
When not writing or blogging, Ann spends her time homeschooling and mothering her 3 children and supporting her husband in his role as pastor. You can read more posts by Ann at Ann's Thoughts.
1 comment:
That's so cool! I am 100% Jordanian!!!
Post a Comment