Almost three years ago, I moved here, to Tennessee, from Alabama. I had moved several times before, but this was the hardest move for me, because I was 13. I had kindled some true friendships, and I was really just getting adjusted to school and church, even though we had lived there for nearly 5 years.
So when I came to Tennessee, I was pretty lonely, and I didn’t really feel like I belonged (even though I had lived here before.) Anyways, I asked God to show me some ways that He could use me. But to be truthful, I wasn’t really looking for the opportunities. I thought that God would show me what I needed to do in big bold letters.
Now, God doesn’t exactly work like that. Sometimes, He wants to see how much you’re really paying attention, and show you in the quietest way possible. And for me, I learned that the hard way. I kind of just sat around, waiting and waiting for God to show me what to do for almost a year and a half.
Then, one Sunday morning at what is now The Grove Church, we had a service that was devoted to missions that are right here in Nashville. And one of the missions, happened to be Coldstream Christian Camp. God opened my eyes right there in the middle of the sanctuary, and I heard Him softly speak, “That’s what I want you to do. That’s where I want you to go – I want you to be a counselor at Coldstream Christian Camp.”
So I got some information about it, prayed about it, and about 6 or 7 months later, I was a co-counselor in a cabin of 7 precious girls between the ages of 7 and 9 years old. To this day, 7 months after being their counselor, I still remember them, pray for them, and I even get to see some of them every once in a while! Every one of those girls has had some sort of impact on my life, including my co-counselor.
Now that I’ve started looking, I’m seeing all sorts of opportunities in my church! I am currently helping lead worship for our youth group on Wednesday nights, some Sunday mornings I sing on the praise team, occasionally I’m taking some sign language classes, and here pretty soon, I’m hoping to help with our children’s worship that we’ll be beginning at The Grove Church on Sunday mornings! God is SO good!
Look around you. Opportunities for you to serve are all around you! Allow God to open your eyes and heart, and look for the opportunities! A great scripture passage about opportunities is found in James. I encourage you to read through James 2:14-26. But I’ll leave you to really think about these two verses.
“You see that person is justified by works and not by faith alone….For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:24&26)
What opportunities are around YOU?