“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-20 ESV

One February evening during my senior year of high school I read this passage and it finally made sense. The reason God sent His son, what that meant for me, what my response was to be, and what that would mean for me. Oh how I wanted that rest for my soul! As a scholar athlete involved in too many extracurricular activities I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, where I wanted to go to school, or what I wanted to study and because I had none of those answers I was stressed out. But that night, I felt how that yoke was easy and the burden was light because where I was going to go to school or what I was going to study was not ultimately going to define me and it certainly would not give me an eternal identity.

My life changed that night. I didn’t have all the answers, in fact I didn’t have any of the answers to those three biggest questions I had for my life, but it made life in the uncertainty so much easier because I was walking that journey and navigating those answers with Jesus. I don’t mean to rewrite history or act like I had much figured out during that time other than that I wanted to follow Jesus and know Him more. This was affirmed as I hear a preacher speak about how my life was not about me as a response to the gospel and I wrote that on the bill of my senior year Seckman baseball cap so that I could remember my identity was not found on my performance on or off the field and that my part of the team was more important that my personal performance. God would continue to grow a desire to know Him more and learn more about him in the coming months until I decided that I was going to skip a week of baseball and go to a church camp.

God spoke to me while at this church camp as I learned about being like clay in the hands of the potter, make into whatever He wanted. I was coming into that camp with that mindset already as I had decided to do something unprecedented in my life…miss a baseball tournament so that I could focus on my relationship with Jesus. I was also doing something that I never thought that I would do in my life: go to a church camp. It was a new life for me and I was doing what I needed to do to grow in my relationship with Jesus and well…growth doesn’t occur by just doing the same things that you’ve been doing the same way. On the contrary some people consider doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is just insanity. Going to this camp was a crazy decision for me to make, but I learned so much and by the end of that camp I was ready to focus on things that would help others grow in their relationship with Jesus rather than trying to pursue a limited collegiate sports career.

Once I got back from that camp I spoke to the youth leaders about helping and was plugged into and learned how to start leading a small group with the Brotherhood, a weekly middle school boys group.  We would faithfully meet for the next six years to play games, talk about life, share a meal, study the bible and discuss what it meant for our lives. This was such a blessing to me. I had a vision to give these boys an environment where it was safe to talk about the messiness of high school, girls, their family, and what it meant to follow Jesus without judgement (for the most part).

A couple months into this and my freshman year of college I was desperate in prayer seeking God for what my calling was so that I could make the most of my college degree and study that which would prepare me for that calling accordingly. I was pretty sure it had to do with two fields and so I was incredibly desperate because they felt like completely different educational paths: law or youth ministry. One day while walking from one area of my job to another I was keeping the place look nice. I saw a piece of paper on the ground and thought ‘That doesn’t belong there’ so I bent down and pieced it up. As I picked it up I read the two words on the other side while the nearest trashcan came into my line of sight and I thought “And it doesn’t belong there either.” The two words that were on this piece of paper placed in my path was what I needed to answer my prayer as it said, “Youth Ministry”.

God met me right where I was at and continued to call me to follow him and take His yoke upon me one step of obedience at a time. From there I had the opportunity to go to Haiti, Brazil, as well as a couple countries in south Asia and the middle east on mission to get a better grasp on God’s heart for all nations as a part of this call to ministry.

In the midst of that, I met Emma and struggled for a long time with God’s call for a husband and wife and if we were ready for that commitment.  We had a conversation about a month and a half before we started dating that included me sharing about this calling into ministry and needing to know that she would be 

ready for something like that because I did not want to date someone that I did not think I would marry and this was one of those non-negotiables. After I got back from my next mission trip we got together and I had the opportunity to hear her share how God had called her to be a wife and mom who stayed at home and supported her husband and kids however was needed and that she took that very seriously. And that was when I knew that she was the one.

 

 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans‬ ‭8:28-29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Fast forward a couple years to get to last week when I was sitting in the conference room at church answering questions in front of the ordination council about what I believe about the bible, ministry, and how God has called me. It was incredible to share some of the process over the past six years as God has continued to confirm that call in my heart and through our lives. The most exciting part of this process to me is looking back at the events that God brought about in my life to get me here. I have such confidence that He was in control through it all and it was for my good and His glory.

Yesterday, I stood before our church as our Pastor presented one of my best friends and I to the church having the full support and approval of the ordination council affirming that God had called us into ministry.

We are so blessed as a family to be a part of what God is doing at Encounter Church and thankful for the opportunity we’ve had to grow because of the way that the leadership lives out their heart of raising up new leaders. Yesterday was in one regard a celebration of sorts for the church in seeing the fruit of what God has produced in our lives and the calling on our lives that was and is being carried out by Encounter Church.

The moment that I read the verses God used to capture my heart on one February evening in 2010 was indeed planned from the beginning of time. Deciding to go to that Church camp where God started to give me a vision for Ministry and then confirming that with the sheet of paper at Vetta as an answered prayer. The opportunities to go to Haiti, Brazil, and then India we’re all a part of God meeting me right where I was and calling me to take my next step of obedience in following Jesus and trusting His call on my life. God met me right where I was and he used so many other people to confirm, encourage, and help me grow.

The list of people that I would like to thank is a mile long and will be unpacked as a part of this ongoing blog series that I’ve titled How We Got Here. I reflected this past week over the process of ordination and the importance of the church not choosing who to ordination, but rather formally recognizing who God has chosen and called into ministry I was reminded of that February night studying Matthew 11 when I decided to start following Jesus. Since that time, I have claimed verses 28-30 as my life verses, but right before that call to follow Jesus in verse 28 is a statement of God’s Sovereignty and explanation of the power Jesus had to issue a call that when met with obedience would bear fruit in the form of peace.

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It is by God’s grace that I was ordained yesterday because I did not choose this path, but I can look back at how He pursued me and called me though I deserve it not. And that is how I will choose to serve, in such a way that others will feel that they do not deserve because that is who God has called us to be.