Today was a good day. It feels like it's been an incredibly long time since I had a day that went as smoothly as today did. I even got an A on my first social work paper that was handed back to me, and I'd like to take that as a good sign... I've been rather nervous.
Today was also good in a different way. It made me think! Well I guess you could say that the seed was planted on Sunday night, when I was having some good, deep conversation with a couple of my good friends. We were talking about missions, and serving others, and about God's love for us and our call from Him for our lives. That vein of thought was continued today, when I had some time during my generalist practice class this morning, and my non profit seminar tonight, as well as at CFL Wesley.
I'm going to be completely honest - the last few weeks have been really hard for me, and I was really struggling with my faith and my passion. I realized that I've kind of been skimming the surface when it comes to my faith, and how I live it out, and that my passion for God and doing his work had kind of faded. It's one of those things that unless you stay on top of it you don't realize it's happened until it's already too late. I now have to go through the process of reconnecting and letting God re-spark that fire back in my heart. But I definitely think the match was lit today. In my non-profit class, P. J. Charles, the founder of Straight Street Ministries here in Orlando, spoke about his experience creating the ministry, and how his faith and passion for the Lord was the foundation of that. His talk got me thinking again about what I and my two friends discussed, about how so often we feel that we have to go some where different, somewhere exotic, to serve people in God's name. We raise thousands of dollars to get ourselves overseas for two weeks, when we could have sent the ministry we are "serving" that money directly and they could have put it to much more use!
In no way am I knocking overseas missions - they are extremely valuable, and I would like to go on one this summer, but it is important to remember that if we want to be servants, the best place to start is in our own back yard. For me, that is Central Florida. I don't have to go across the world to see the brokenness of our world, and I don't have to go across the world to see how God's love can heal some of that brokenness. I can be involved in City Life Club through Wesley, and put my all into loving on those kids who don't always get that love at home. I can help serve the homeless here in Orlando, rather than having to go to New Orleans to do it (although my trip to New Orleans I would not give up for the world!). I can donate to to non profits and ministries that seek justice for people, ministries like Florida Abolitionist who seek to end modern day slavery and human trafficking. And that barely scratches the surface of opportunities right here in my own hometown in which I can serve others and show the world His love.
Today and this past weekend definitely gave me some good perspective on my life, and the path that I'm on right now. It renewed my passion for Social Work and reminded me of why I chose this field in the first place. It reminded me that ultimately, everything I do on this earth is not for my glory, but for His, that those around me should be able to see His love through me always, not just when I shout it from the rooftops. Joyful servanthood should be a lifestyle, not a 10 day trip during the summer.
I'm incredibly thankful for these reminders, and I simply pray that God will give me the strength, guidance and courage to make the changes I need to make to live them out continuously.
<3
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