After experiencing my first religious retreat at 16 years old, I found myself contemplating joining a religious community. Yes, I thought hard about becoming a nun. I corresponded back and forth with several communities and didn’t tell any of my friends about this. Here I am 42 years later, a Youth Minister, married with 3 grown children. The discipleship part of living among the people, owning nothing and relying on God for my every need was not what steered me away from becoming a nun. Rather, I was certain that I could find my God-given vocation as a married woman with children.
I was, in fact, “called.” That much, I am certain. My discipleship included living among people… my family, neighbors, community, church and rooting myself in ministry as I lived life and struggled to balance life. How could I ever minister to teens, if I didn’t struggle as a teen? How could I ever minister to teens, if I never had teens of my own to raise? God graciously allowed me to experience the joy of doing what worked best for me, as He equipped me with the much-needed life’s lessons to better follow His will. I’d like to think of my ministry as a modern-day Discipleship.
Jesus sent the apostles out into the world with a walking stick, a robe and sandals. They were totally dependent on the hospitality of the people they met on their journey. In my life, the uncertainty at each crossroad was often scary, yet exciting. Hospitable people placed in my path at precisely the right moments helped me on my journey. God’s will for me was often a mystery, but a blessing. Some of the best things that happened in my life took me by surprise, and off my secure path, long enough for the miracle to take root.
God always had a unique plan for me. He hand-picked me with my gifts and talents and shaped me with life’s scars and bruises to be a listener for cries of help and to rejoice with each blessing as it unfolds. The teens I minister to are the same teens that carry God’s hope and promise. Are you tuned in to how God is calling you?