I can swallow w/o pain, and I'm only wiping Sam's nose every hour, so I think we're on the mend.
Dan is reading a book about dreams/hearts' desires. Monday night he told me the part he was reading was saying that even though we have little dreams here and there, if we thought about it for a while there is probably one central dream that we have through our lives. These little dreams are probably outgrowths of the big dream. Then he asked me what my dream is. I knew immediately. What I want to do is encourage/teach/lead women on a regular basis, either as a small group, SS class, anything! So, then he asked me what obstacles were preventing me. That was painful to sort through, as some items are more "insecurity" than "obstacle". Probably the biggest obstacle in my mind is that I often have 1 sick child, which prevents me from committing to something on a weekly basis. Dan agreed this is a challenge (combined with the fact that he is gone almost every Mon-Fri), so we prayed about it. I went to bed asking God to show me creative ways to love on women that I can do whether my kids are sick or not!
Yesterday I got an email from the leader of the MOPS I go to. Little background: I LOVE my MOPS group. I only have had 1 other experience, and I think the fact that it only met once a month made it not super successful. This group meets weekly, has great speakers, and has a military moms table. This was such a blessing because I never seem to meet Christiam military wives. Until I went to this MOPS, I had 1 friend who was both a military spouse and a believer. I met her from church, so it's just coincidental that her husband is Navy. So even though I have met several people at MOPS who aren't military, it really helps to sit around and discuss what we all know we go through, with the added perspective of eternity.
This semester we've had this huge explosion in military moms. We were already the largest table with about 10, and I think we've almost doubled! We had to combine 2 round tables last time, and that was awkward! So Kelley called me because of this new dilemma. The leadership feels the need for 2 military tables, and she wanted me to pray about being table leader. How cool is that-just the morning after the night Dan & I had this conversation.
I told her I didn't need to wait because I had already asked God for the opportunity. I shared with her my whole conversation with Dan, and even my concern about my sickies. She wasn't worried about that at all and was on the look out for a Mentor Mom for our table anyway who could fill in when I'm not there. What's great about this too is it's so easy-I just lead the discussion questions that have already been printed and yet I'll get to more directly talk to each lady. Thank you, Lord! And I'm going to keep praying for more opportunities!
If you have a dream, please comment about it. What is it? What are your obstacles? Were you able to accomplish it more easily when you weren't a mom? If you have more than one dream, please share!! You can even post "anonymous" if you don't want to give your identity or write me privately. I would love to hear about!
Dan is reading a book about dreams/hearts' desires. Monday night he told me the part he was reading was saying that even though we have little dreams here and there, if we thought about it for a while there is probably one central dream that we have through our lives. These little dreams are probably outgrowths of the big dream. Then he asked me what my dream is. I knew immediately. What I want to do is encourage/teach/lead women on a regular basis, either as a small group, SS class, anything! So, then he asked me what obstacles were preventing me. That was painful to sort through, as some items are more "insecurity" than "obstacle". Probably the biggest obstacle in my mind is that I often have 1 sick child, which prevents me from committing to something on a weekly basis. Dan agreed this is a challenge (combined with the fact that he is gone almost every Mon-Fri), so we prayed about it. I went to bed asking God to show me creative ways to love on women that I can do whether my kids are sick or not!
Yesterday I got an email from the leader of the MOPS I go to. Little background: I LOVE my MOPS group. I only have had 1 other experience, and I think the fact that it only met once a month made it not super successful. This group meets weekly, has great speakers, and has a military moms table. This was such a blessing because I never seem to meet Christiam military wives. Until I went to this MOPS, I had 1 friend who was both a military spouse and a believer. I met her from church, so it's just coincidental that her husband is Navy. So even though I have met several people at MOPS who aren't military, it really helps to sit around and discuss what we all know we go through, with the added perspective of eternity.
This semester we've had this huge explosion in military moms. We were already the largest table with about 10, and I think we've almost doubled! We had to combine 2 round tables last time, and that was awkward! So Kelley called me because of this new dilemma. The leadership feels the need for 2 military tables, and she wanted me to pray about being table leader. How cool is that-just the morning after the night Dan & I had this conversation.
I told her I didn't need to wait because I had already asked God for the opportunity. I shared with her my whole conversation with Dan, and even my concern about my sickies. She wasn't worried about that at all and was on the look out for a Mentor Mom for our table anyway who could fill in when I'm not there. What's great about this too is it's so easy-I just lead the discussion questions that have already been printed and yet I'll get to more directly talk to each lady. Thank you, Lord! And I'm going to keep praying for more opportunities!
If you have a dream, please comment about it. What is it? What are your obstacles? Were you able to accomplish it more easily when you weren't a mom? If you have more than one dream, please share!! You can even post "anonymous" if you don't want to give your identity or write me privately. I would love to hear about!
4 comments:
this is something i've thought about recently, but i think i'd really like to get involved in women's ministry. we started going to a brand spankin new church and i told the pastor about it, and he was all about it once we've gotten a little better established. leading a bible study or something. i feel like we have spiritual gifts that are meant to be used, and until now i've not had the opportunity going to the large church we used to go to. hopefully soon i guess!!
I have always felt, since the moment I met you, that you should be a counselor/women's mentor...you have a gift like nothing I have ever seen. I am so thrilled to see that God is giving you that opportunity! You are a beautiful friend and woman of God. I love you...
I am going to think about the dream thing...
I agree with Christi!! I think I have 2 big dreams. 1. to have a large close knit family. 2. to teach/lead in a women's ministry like you were saying.
I'm definitely getting to work more on 1 than 2 these days! I remind myself that this stage of my life is exactly that - a stage. My kids won't always be small and there are ways to minister now that don't require me to be out of my home all the time.
BTW, I'm curious what book he's reading. Joel's been reading something similar lately.
Okay, this has really been on my heart a lot too... I would love to write christian fiction and nonfiction and I would love to do public speaking....
Keith and I have been talking about it too, I will have to write a blog about it as it has been quite a process, filled with God's leading and me getting angry because things do not work on MY TIME!!!!
Most importantly right now though, I want to be the wife & mother God created me to be. that is a big challenge... I am very stubborn~!
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