Coffee Mugs and Soapsuds

I actually forgot to post this weekend.

I forgot to post, mainly because I really didn’t know what I should write. Not much has been happening at my volunteer placement. I went again on Thursday and I washed dishes. Lots and lots of coffee mugs were washed.

I did notice that there was a bigger crowd out at last Thursday. The weather is getting colder so this is something I would expect. More and more people are coming in from off the street to grab a baked good and a coffee, sit, chat, and play cards or pool to get out of the cold for a few hours.

I was also able to use my very poor French. Someone asked for a glass of water (in French) and I was able to get it for him, so that was cool.

Thanks for reading and I apologize for this weeks post being quite boring and unexciting.

Em

Spirit lead me...

 Get ready for me to sound so basic and stereotypical. Ready?

I love the song Oceans. I know, I know, me, along with pretty much every other Christian girl (and some Christian guys) out there. But for real, as unoriginal as this might sound, the Lord has really spoken to me through the song.

Two summers ago I preached my very first sermon and this song inspired the message I shared. I can remember it as clear as day. It was one Sunday when I was heading home. I was sitting in my old silver Dodge Neon and the rain was coming down hard on the windshield. I had just started the car and hooked up my phone to my Bluetooth thing. The song started playing and I knew what I was supposed to talk about.

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

                                                             

About a month later I stood up on the platform and preached a sermon about Jesus calling Peter to walk on the water.

Now fast forward to this past Sunday, I was making the hour and a half drive back to school after being home for the weekend. I have recently been obsessed with Rend Collective’s new album Campfire II: Simplicity. All of a sudden Oceans comes on. Rend Collected has their own new rendition of the song and it is BEAUTIFUL! I have listened to it at least 20 times. I love it!

So as I was driving I was listening to this song (and singing along very loudly). I was hit again by this line:

“Spirit lead me where my trust is without boarders”

I realized that this needs to be my prayer while I’m volunteering. Even though I may feel insignificant (see last week's post) I need to remember that God can and will use me. So I’m asking God to lead me where my trust is without boarders. I want him to call me to step out of my boat – my comfort zone – and to trust him to use me and keep me afloat.  

Thanks for reading, 

Em

If you are interested in listening to Oceans from Rend Collective's new album (I highly recommend you do!) listen to it here:

**I actually didn't get out to volunteer this week because I had SO MUCH work. I had a midterm on Monday, an assignment Wednesday, a 2000 word paper due Wednesday, a quiz Wednesday, a 4 page paper due Thursday, a midterm Friday, and this blog post for Friday. It was a pretty hectic week.**

expectations and such

Okay here comes a very real and honest post. It was a tough one to write so just bear with me and prepare yourselves…

I have officially been volunteering for 4 weeks!

In the past four weeks my experience has not in the least been what I have expected.

Let me rewind and start by saying I love my home church. I have been going to the same church since I was a baby. My mom went to that church, and my grandmother went there before her. It is basically my home away from home. The people at my church are my family. It really is an amazing place. The roles that my church and church family have played in my life are huge. They have shaped me and made me into who I am today.

With that being said, I am well known at church. As I already mentioned, the people from my church are like family.

I am used to being the golden child at church. (Is that a good thing? Idk but it’s who I am and I embrace it.)

Most of my previous ministry work has been with my church. There are a lot of opportunities to serve there. So when I usually do ministry everyone knows who I am. They all love and support me. They trust me with big responsibilities and they know that I will do a good job.

My experiences on Thursday nights are a bit different. I am treated really well and I am shown lots of love, but I am kind of feeling insignificant.

You see they have a regular volunteer on the schedule who does the coffee and guess what… It’s not me.  So I have been collecting dishes, washing dishes, and I do serve the odd coffee when T (the other volunteer) gets tied up doing something else. So I am basically the assistant to the coffee maker.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to be there but sometimes I just feel like I am just there getting in peoples’ way.

Last week, T wasn’t able to be there so I got to take over for her, so I felt a little bit important. But this week, we had coffee and cups donated from McDonalds. So there were no mugs to wash and I felt so useless.

This is something that I have really been struggling with because I’m a leader. I know I can lead; it’s what I do. I grow from leading and I feel like I do a good job leading. I like to be given a lot of responsibility. Being an assistant to the coffee maker is not something with a lot of responsibility. Not only that, I am also having a tough time seeing how I am going to grow from this ministry experience. I’m trying really hard to see how God can use me while I am feeling like I’m doing nothing important.

I guess it is time to trust God and see where he takes me.

Thanks for reading, 

Em

the first post is always the hardest

I love reading blogs and I always wanted to start one but I had no idea what to write about. So now I have to write a blog for class once a week so we will see where this goes.

A little background information; as a requirement of my BTh I am doing what we call a Junior Praxis. For the next two years I will be intentionally and consistently volunteering in one ministry setting. On this blog I will be reflecting and writing about my experience throughout the year. So stay tuned each Friday for a new post.

Now for the good stuff: As I sit in Starbucks drinking my Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino I’m trying to figure out what the heck I should write about. You see I’m in an unusual predicament. This past spring when I started thinking about where I wanted to volunteer I was all for doing children and/or youth ministry – I love kids and middle schoolers are my kind of people.

But as usual God said “Oh Emily when will you learn that I am in charge and I have a plan?”

God had something planned for my summer that I did not see coming. Through my job (more on that another day) God worked in my heart and opened my eyes to see the joy in community outreach ministry. Over the past few months I have just grown to love working in the community sharing the gospel and just hanging out and getting to know people.

So here I am. The past few weeks I have been volunteering at community centre that offers many programs such as an emergency shelter, step-up housing, a nine month addiction recovery program for men and referral for women, life skills, GED, and daily biblical studies. So far all I have been doing is making and serving coffee, which is a little frustrating because I have gone from serving and leading a community outreach program this summer to serving coffee. I feel like I have gone from leading in a huge role this past summer to a smaller much less significant role and I feel like I am not making much of an impact yet. But I have only been there 3 times so we will see what will happen as time progresses.

As a side note, I am leading at a middle school youth group once a week so be expected to read a post about that every once in a while.

I hope you enjoy and come back next week!

Thanks for reading,

Em