I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was four years old. I had on a red dress. Is it weird that I remember what I was wearing? As I grew up, I rededicated myself to the Lord as my understanding and knowledge of Him grew. My focus was almost always on doing and being what and who God wanted me to be. (I say “almost always” because I was a teenager for a few years!)

I wanted adventure; I wanted to travel; I wanted to serve God in amazing ways. My hope was that I would impact the world around me and help people see God. However, God wired me to be a “homebody” so my place of service would naturally be close to home. I still want adventure — with Mr. Gorgeous. I definitely want to travel — with people I care about and love… and then, I want to go home, to our 910 square foot house and two dogs. And yes, the kids too, even though they are growing up and launching their own lives. Of course I want to serve God in amazing ways — wherever He sends me.

Scott Wesley Brown recorded a song when I was a teen called, “Please Don’t Send Me to Africa.” I sincerely don’t recall ever praying that (maybe I did), but I do remember being terrified that God would call me into a world I didn’t know or understand to “do” ministry. In fact, I was called to be a minister when I was 12 years old. But, I grew up in the 70s when women’s liberation seriously impacted the role of women in the church. You see, I believe that the church as a whole, had a “knee jerk” reaction to women in ministry because of the women’s liberation movement, which at times seemed to be incredibly selfish. (The movement is an unrelated topic — maybe I’ll blog about it another day!) So, back to the topic at hand. I didn’t know any woman who was a pastor. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of women pastors. My thinking went something like this, “If I’m suppose to be a minister, I’ll have to figure out what that means. The only women ministers I know are missionaries (Africa) and youth pastors. I don’t want to go to Africa to minister so I guess I’ll be a youth pastor.” Thankfully, God continued teaching and leading and I came to understand the true calling that He had placed on my life.

Today, a beautiful young woman — a former student — left Colorado for eleven months. She will be serving with the World Race, a ministry through Adventures in Missions. She will visit and minister in eleven different countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia. I’m proud of her and will be praying for her every day. This amazing young woman has shared with me about her trip for months. I’ve listened and prayed and encouraged — as literally hundreds of people have. But somewhere in the midst of supporting her preparation for ministry, I stepped back and looked at what she is doing and I looked at what I have done.

I think it is easy to get into the comparison game. Really, comparison often precedes dissatisfaction in our lives. Comparison can be a source of temptation that Satan uses in our lives. We see what someone else has, or is, or does, and suddenly, we have the desire to have, to be, or to do the same thing — or something bigger… better. When we were newlyweds Mr. Gorgeous and I loved to visit open houses. We would go look at the model homes: the beautiful furniture, the space, the gorgeous kitchens, the dishwashers, and the amazing bathrooms. One day, we were talking about going on a date and thought we might find an open house or furniture store to wander through. As we talked about the possibilities we came to the conclusion that we needed to stop doing both of those things. We needed to stay out of new, spacious, gorgeous houses. We needed to stay away from fancy furniture showrooms. All that they did for us was cause us to see what we didn’t have… and sometimes, they made us want more. And while wanting “more” isn’t wrong, for us, it was a distraction that pulled us away from God’s best for us.

It is okay to aspire to do great things. Having a dream, a wish, a hope, a plan is fine as long as we remember Proverbs 19:21. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (NIV.)

It is living out the Lord’s purpose that brings us to accomplishment.

Honestly, in many ways, I wish that I had traveled the world when I was younger — but that isn’t me.

I aspired to serve God with all that is in me; and I STILL aspire to serve God with everything that I am. God called me to my place of ministry: a classroom, a church, a home, a family, a blog. Really, my aspirations have been accomplished. I have ministered, loved, prayed for, cried with, cared about, and encouraged the people that God has brought into my path. Friends, I’ve not accomplished everything yet — I still have more aspirations and will continue to serve God wherever He leads me. I doubt it will be on three continents in eleven months, but I am thankful that God called my friend to go. He didn’t make me to be that kind of an adventurer. I don’t have to feel badly that I didn’t travel the world and talk about Jesus… students that I taught, church members we’ve loved, relatives we’ve prayed for are going because that is where God has called them to serve.

Thankfully, He made us individuals and as we call on Him, He will give us a place of service — wherever it may be.  “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”