So in the last 8 months I have been a part of a lot of different ministries. Some of them I had expected and others that I had never even thought of before this trip.
I find myself here in Swaziland and living in a team house with two other teams, so there are 18 of us doing ministry together. We got here and were given a list of a lot of different ministries that we could choose from and these are different almost every day.
One of the things that was on the list was to babysit for a little girl named Clara who is the daughter of one of the missionary families living here. Now I understand that some of you might not think that babysitting is ministry and that thought did cross my mind. But as the week went on and I was babysitting I began to realize that everything we do can be considered ministry. To Clara’s parents I was ministering to them by letting them focus more fully on the ministry they are doing here and have some time to relax a little bit.
A big thing that I have learned more and more as the months go by is that “ministry” is not only the things we always think of; there is so much more. That God cannot be put into a box and neither can ministry. If we put a label on what ministry is to look like, we might miss some amazing things that God has for us to experience.
Some of the other people in the house were doing “ATL” (ask the Lord) and were lead to the local dump. Now if they had not gone because it is not ‘normal’ then they would have missed out on what God is doing there. They have been able to build relationships with the people that ‘work’ there and have been having Bible studies with them. God is moving there and we have had the privilege of being part of it because we stopped to ask God and then we followed no matter if we thought it might be a little strange.
This is just a couple examples of how God can work in unexpected ways if we open up our minds and hearts and break ministry out of its tidy little box.
Let’s break that box together and let God blow our minds with His greatness!!!
