Many years ago, I kept having dreams that I was singing solos at church.  I would wake up and think, “That is weird!  I can’t sing!”  Well, I could sing, but it sounded more like a joyful noise!  Yet, as I continued to have those dreams, I started to hear the Lord telling me that one day I would be singing solos.  About nine months later, I went Christmas caroling with our nursing home ministry team.  I loved it!  I quickly signed up to join the team that went out each week to a local nursing home to do a Sunday service.  Wouldn’t you know it?  The very first Sunday I went, they handed me a microphone and said, “Sing!”  I honestly thought I could hear God laughing!

Now, when I started singing at the nursing home, it wasn’t as if God said, “Start out singing Sandi Patty songs.”  No, He only asked me to sing.  And He was wise enough to start me out in a small setting with people whose hearing wasn’t all that good.” 

Later, He led me to join the church choir.  As I began to strengthen my voice, He built my confidence.  A few years later, I did end up singing several Sandi Patty songs.  I offered to the Lord what little ability I had in those early days at the nursing home, and He took it and multiplied into something bigger.

In Mark 6:30-44, we find the story where Jesus fed the five thousand.  What I love about this story is that Jesus didn’t ask the disciples for what they didn’t have.  He only asked them for what they did have.  “How many loaves do you have?” (verse 38)  Then He blesses it, multiplies it, and uses it far beyond what we can imagine.

When the Lord first told me to start my Internet ministry, I had no expectations of what He was going to do.  I just knew that I had a passion to share with other ladies things I had learned over the years that made a huge impact on my life.  The Lord made it clear that He was going to gift me write in devotional format many lessons I’d learned over the years.  He wasn’t asking me to write a book.  He was only asking of me what I had – a love for writing.  My love for writing is similar to the five loaves and two fish in Mark 6 – that is what I had to offer.

Over the years, the Lord blessed my “loaves and fish.”  I am still amazed that people from every continent have signed up to receive my monthly devotions.  What amazes me even more is that some of my devotions are being translated into three different languages. Now, I don’t share these personal things with you to brag about myself.  Rather, I brag on the Lord because this is His doing! 

Often, I think we get overwhelmed when the Lord begins to show us a new place of ministry.  Dear one, don’t allow yourself to overly burdened with what the Lord reveals to you.  Offer Him what you have.  That is all He asks.  He will be the One to bless your efforts.  You don’t need to worry about whether this new place of ministry will succeed or not.  That is in the Lord’s hands.  Just give Him your “loaves and fish” and watch how He blesses and multiplies them!

© 2008, Stacy R Miller