What's Up With Me (Plus: A Word About Success)

Okay, so to start off my blog I figured it'd be good to talk a little bit about what I'm up to these days.

I graduated from Multnomah in December 2004 and was incredibly surprised by a job offer from my church. I was hired to fulfill two part time positions: (1) Administrative Assistant, and (2) Youth Director. I've now been at my job for a year and a quarter, and I'm still loving it! I mean, to be honest, the administrative stuff is fine--but it doesn't really get me super pumped. It's just stuff that needs to be done that I happen to be able to do. But the youth part is awesome! I love being paid to hang out with students and tell them about Jesus and challenge them to grow in their faith. What a privilege! I'm so blessed by my job.

Not to say that it's all perfect. Last fall I was feeling very discouraged because I felt like my labor was producing very little fruit. I felt like such a failure, and like everyone at the church must resent me because they were paying my salary--and for what? I wasn't "producing results."

But, God worked in my heart and taught me a very important lesson about success. He showed me how in Scripture he sometimes called the prophets to lives of "fruitless" ministries--as in preaching to a people whose hearts would remain hard and unrepentant. God didn't tell Isaiah or Jeremiah to preach harder, he told them to turn to him for their affirmation and protection. God also reminded me of the people who had worked diligently to plant spiritual seeds in my life, but never got to see the fruit borne from their seeds. I now realize that spiritual success looks different from the way our culture views success. The world tells us that success is measured effectiveness: making a lot of money or getting a lot of followers. But a successful servant of God is one who obediently follows him, regardless of immediate results. We can trust that since God is sovereign, his plan is bigger than ours, and his plan may involve building our charater through "failure," or it may involve bringing fruit from our labor at a much later time.

And since then, God has graciously given me affirmation that I am indeed where he wants me right now, and that he is able to use me for his glory when I submit myself to him.

Let's see...oh, I started attending what I affectionately refer to as "The Grandma's Bible Study" at my church. That would be the Ladie's study that meets on Tuesday mornings and is attended by my mom, myself and 8 grandmas (2 great-grandmas!). Since it started though one other woman my age has also joined, so I guess we're getting slightly more mixed! But recently, I have undertaken to lead this study, and we're going through a book I love, The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert E. Coleman. It's an awesome book about how we can apply to our lives the disciple-making principles that Jesus used in his ministry. But preparing the study guide each week and facilitating the discussion has proved challenging. It has been a great way to build relationships with the women in the church, though.

Last year I had the privilege of directing Jr. High Girls week of camp at Eagle Fern Camp in Estacada, Oregon. That was awesome, and my wonderful friend, Amber, and I are directing once again this year.

That's pretty much what I'm up to. I love to hang out with my family, too. They're only a few minutes from my place, so that's cool. And I'm living with my good friend since childhood, Nikki. We get along well, and I enjoy having her here. I think that should be enough of an update for now.