When I first felt the Lord calling me to ministry, I was terrified. (and I still am some days!)
I’ll never forget that night at camp when I tightly gripped the arm rests of the stadium chairs in the Lutz-Yelton Convocation Center on the campus of Gardner-Webb University as I heard the Lord calling me for the first time.
I think what scared me the most was that I didn’t know what kind of ministry I was called to.
When people go to college they go there to become nurses, teachers, writers, etc. So, when I told people that I would be studying Biblical studies, I often received looks that implied that I might have a second head. These looks were typically followed by this question, “well, what are you going to do with that?”
And the scary thing was… I didn’t know.
I didn’t know what I was going to do with a degree in Biblical studies.
What I did know was that the Lord was calling me to ministry and the only way that I knew to be faithful to that call was to choose that major.
In my time at Gardner-Webb, I had many opportunities to dive head first into different types of ministry but I still couldn’t find the “one thing” that I was supposed to do for the rest of my life.
Now that I have graduated with a degree, I still have no idea what I am doing. Family members, friends, and church folks are always asking me what my goals are after the World Race and what I want to do with my life. All I can do is scratch my head and shrug my shoulders at their questions. They then continue to ask questions: “how are you going to make a living?” “How will you provide for yourself?” “What can you even do with that degree?” “Are you sure about this?”
For the longest time, I thought that I needed to know that my calling was to a specific job title. But maybe that’s not what it’s all about.
I can hear some of you saying this as you read this post: “Now Shelby, there’s a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ here.”
Yes, there sure are.
But here’s what I do know: I’ve been called to a life of service. A life that is to be given wholly to the Gospel. A life where no one is an interruption. A life that is less about me…and more about Him. A life that seeks justice, loves mercy and walks humbly with the Lord. A life that never tires of doing good.
Maybe someday I will feel called to a specific kind of ministry. But until then, my only goal is to be faithful and obedient where the Lord places me each and every day.
When I felt the Lord call me to go on the World Race, I knew that my only job was to be obedient to that call. And boy has He been faithful in this journey so far.
A smart woman told me this weekend that you have to be called and crazy to do some of the work that happens in ministry.
Maybe I’ll stick to that job description for now: Shelby Robinson, the one who is called and crazy.
Until next time,
Peace and Blessings
