Courtney, Sabrina, Jen, and I knew all too well what to expect when we were assigned to help Hilmary. To say the least, it’s a very crappy job… and well unless you’re Courtney, who is an angel when it comes to this line of labor, it’s not the ministry you would select for yourself.
I see so much joy in Hilmary’s eyes when she is working with her horses. She’s in her second trimester and so she’s in need of pooper scoopers for all of her paddocks. This horse farm is her and her husband’s livelihood and their hard work to have come this far in starting up a business doing what they love. Arriving for a visit, you do not see all that goes into it, but after two months working along side of them you’ll start to see it all unfold.
She has 11 paddocks with about 18 horses—that’s where we come in. Then, she has a pasture across the way full of horses and another far-away field full of horses; if we are lucky we get to go catch them with a halter & lead rope, bring them home if and when they decide they want you to, walk them back through the brush, fences, & thorny grass, saddle and bridle them for morning trail rides, and then continue to our poop scooping and many trips with the wheelbarrow to poop mountain.
You might be asking, “How is that ministry?” I asked my teammates and myself this many times, you can ask them. I would work hard, but after a long day in the sun covered in particles of poop with no grasp on how this was kingdom focused, I was burning out fast. I even pretended to talk to each horse about Jesus as a joke when I scooped their paddock. It’s kinda funny, but I am not proud of it because of my heart in it; I am actually realizing how insulting that was to God.
To’m thankful for conviction, I know that I’m growing from it. We are also incredibly thankful to have abundant ministry in J-Bay (Remember Zion’s vision– Abundance, lack nothing, overflow). We are thankful to have unique ministries and ministries that challenge all of us in different ways in Jeffrey’s Bay. I found myself in my own little world wondering what purpose all of the poop scooping was for and then I realized how much more God was using us because his idea of ministry is higher than my idea of ministry.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
-Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)
My way of thinking basically said, “Hey God, I am in the middle of limiting myself and my life to my own thoughts, desires, and line of work, can’t you see I am a little to busy for the poop scooping?” Yikes, it’s never fun to admit our flaws, faults, and pride. Well it’s out there for all to see now. I am broken, imperfect, and in need of so much grace everyday. What I think and want to see selfishly fulfilled won’t be, it will only return empty. However, the purpose he’s given us will never return empty. He will use the most unlikely of people & circumstances to fulfill his purpose, like David playing the harp for King Saul, like me scooping mounds of horse poop.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
-Isaiah 55:10-11 (MSG)
Many stories in the Bible put this into more perspective. John Maxwell once put it, as best as I can quote it in my words, “Aren’t you glad Noah didn’t say said he doesn’t do boats, that David didn’t say he doesn’t do Goliath’s, that John the Baptist didn’t say he doesn’t do baptisms, that Paul didn’t say he doesn’t do letters, that Jesus didn’t say He doesn’t do crosses….Just serve and add value to people.” They moved by faith. Likewise, I will not limit myself to my own understanding for the assignment before me is a move of God I don’t want to miss.
Hilmary has value as God’s beloved. Hilmary calls, and asks Lyndon (our host) if he can send some of us to help her on the farm. He has worked with her for a couple of years now and said she never asks for help so this is when we knew she was in need.
When a sister calls, when God calls we will go wholeheartedly. It’s a God-breathed-door-of-opportunity swinging wide open. Loving and serving God is serving His beloved. Unfortunately, I acted like I knew what was best for the Kingdom instead of my Father who is the King, but God is a redeemer, a liberator, and an Father of second chances. So below I’ve added a picture of me scooping poop for the kingdom with joy. I’ve had a heart change. I lay my pride at his feet, I commit to his plans, and I’ll walk in faith as did Noah, David, John, Paul, Abraham, Rebekah, and Jesus watching the beauty unfold from a higher vantage point, from His vantage point.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
-Isaiah 55:12 (NIV)
When I think about joy, I think about this day. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you from my own mistake, don’t limit yourself to your own understanding. God is moving, lay it down, whatever it is at his feet so that He can move you into higher places. Just remember David went from a harpist to a warrior.
-Britt
