Said the night wind to the little lamb,
"Do you see what I see?”
Heavy sigh. My kids ruined this and several other beloved Christmas songs with bathroom humor. (Don’t ask).
But the truth is, we don’t all see the same things.
For whatever reason, ever since I was a kid, I noticed the person who didn’t fit in with the crowd. Probably because I felt so often like I didn’t fit, either because I was slower to mature physically, emotionally, and socially than many of my peers, but also because I thought more deeply, observing things that never occurred to them.
The summer after high school graduation I had my feet firmly in two different worlds: the inner world of anorexia and desperately searching for the meaning of life, and the outer world of literally looking for love in all the wrong places with my group of now lifelong friends. Conversations were characterized by discussions of the latest styles, upcoming college life and endless ponderings over whether or not a particular young man liked me, while my reading list included voracious consumption of the Bible and little-read scholarly books on Judaism.
Fast forward to a few months ago. Here’s what I noticed on a trip to the grocery store, during a weekday, a time when I normally do not shop:
a - A girl with waist-length bluish-purple hair, wearing fishnet leggings under cut off denim shorts.
b - Elderly people shopping. Quite a few of them.
c - An older man with shoulder length unkempt hair, walking slowly into the store, as if air conditioned space is a treat to be savored, on a day in excess of 90 degrees.
d - A magazine called “Understanding Autism,” published by the New York Times, positioned beside the chewing gum in the checkout lane.
e - A man with a left arm that stops midway between his elbow and wrist; his other arm equipped with what’s known as a body-powered prosthesis.
f - A youngish man and his mom in front of me in the checkout. He wore a Star Wars shirt. Included in their grocery order were several hot wheels cars from the clearance aisle. He’s balding. The mom has to be in her 70’s. He is almost certainly a person living with intellectual disabilities.
Photo credit: Morgan Von Gunten on Unsplash.com.
If you’re thinking, ‘Who cares what she noticed in the grocery store or what she did the summer after high school,’ that’s not the point. The point is that God wired each of us to notice certain things while filtering out others. And we’ve each lived with experiences that shape our relationship with God and view of the world. Where those two things come together is often where God wants you to serve in ministry.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Does this mean He will give you everything you want? Absolutely not! It means that he will ‘plant’ or ‘cultivate’ the desires that you have. He will change your desires to match His desires for you. The previous verse helps illuminate this meaning: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”
So if you have a desire to be involved with ministry in some way, but all the existing options don’t seem to fit, the best first step is to think of serving your family as ministry. Always. After all, all of life is ministry.
But the next best step is just to pay attention. Be alert to life. Think about what makes your heart pound, what you just can’t stop thinking about, the details that you notice that no one else does. I still love to read articles and books about the Torah, and the endless layers of wisdom that’s contained therein. This zeal has significantly influenced my pursuit of God’s will for me over these many years.
What challenges are you facing now? What have you overcome in your past? This could be anything: sinful choices you’ve overcome and left behind, traumatic circumstances you’ve lived through, disabilities you live with, or the caregiving you provide to someone you love who lives with disabilities. Getting through anorexia and bulimia led me first to ministry with women struggling with eating disorder, and now more broadly to people living with mental health disorders of every kind.
Somewhere, in all of of your passions and obstacles, God will Romans 8:28 your life. This will come from working with Him, being diligent in seeking Him through His Word, in prayer and then listening and watching for His guidance. Along the way, He’ll change your perspective, making it more like His. Eventually, He’ll position you to live out 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, in a way that’s meaningful to you and only you, and for those He has called you to serve.
When given fully to God, your experiences paired with your passions become like harmony matched with melody. You’ll see His pattern play again on repeat, His eternal chorus paired with the lyrics of your life.
If you’re interested in discerning where God is leading you into ministry, or just want to shorten the path to living out His purposes, we’ll be talking more in depth on this topic for the rest of this year and into 2023. We’ll share more details about how to recognize and pursue the path God is laying before you, not only from our perspective, but also with some ministry friends who have gone through this process. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter or weekly blog digest to get notified about podcasts, webinars and more on this topic.
Catherine Boyle is the Director of Mental Health Ministry for Key Ministry. You can follow her work here or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and www.catherineboyle.com.
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