Posted in Spiritual Life

Several years ago, my husband and I made the conscious choice to limit outside-of-the-home activities.  At the time, our sons were involved in music lessons, martial arts classes, children's choir, Missions club, as well as other activities.  My husband and I sang in the church choir, taught Sunday school classes, participated in drama productions, and several other "ministries".  All the while, our family was literally falling apart.  What looked nice and normal and even attractive on the outside was miserable and displeasing to the Lord on the inside.  We appeared to have it all together--we were doing all the things Christians are "supposed" to do, but the Lord knew the truth, and eventually, so did everyone else.  Praise be to God, He showed us the error of our ways.  He shed light on our sinful hearts, and gave us the grace to turn it all around for Him.  Since that time, we have been very careful to keep our home and our family life at the center of our activities.  The Lord has brought us through a major family reformation, and He is now building our family into a strong force for Him and our home into a vibrant place of ministry.

For a long time, I was under the impression that pleasing the Lord meant doing church-related "ministries".  I thought that as long as I was involved in all the right programs and doing all the right activities, God would be pleased with my service.  I believed that the only way He could really use me was if I were teaching Sunday school or singing in the choir.  What I didn't realize at the time (but what He has taught over the last few years) is that I can be used of God much more effectively if I am doing it in the sphere He has designed me for.  Reaching out to others from the joyful, peace-filled environs of my home, and seeing my home as the center of ministry it truly is, has helped me to understand and fill my role as a Christian woman in a much more complete way.

The sweet, strong, wonderful relationship my husband and I are building is a clear testimony of what the power of the Lord can do in changing the lives of those yielded to Him.  Looking at our marriage, anyone can see the hand of God at work in two sinful human hearts, bringing us together in Him and making us truly "one".  God has used us to minister to others in ways we never expected; what a privilege it is to be able to point to Him and show the work He has done in us.

For us, rethinking what it truly means to "serve the Lord" has opened up opportunities for service we never would have dreamed of.  And our children are involved in ministry with us in a way that would not have been possible with our former mindset.  Our children, after all, are our greatest and most important area of ministry.  Building a godly family is the most important thing we can do for the Lord.  It is the surest way to have a multi-generational, far-reaching impact for His Kingdom.  Isn't that what ministry is really about?