In His Name

I know many Christians, including myself, who have thought that doing a "ministry" or fulfilling my "purpose" as a Christian-doing God's will-should/had to be an actual furthering the Kingdom of God type thing: i.e. witnessing, missionary work, church work, etc.  It has taken me years to figure out that absolutely everything I do each day is "my" ministry.  When I was raising my daughter and she was young, I had to do for her and take care of her - that was all my "ministry" at that time - when she become a teen and demanded not only taking care of  needs, but a bit more input , more being there, more checking in and that too was all part of my "Ministry".

My favorite book that taught me this fact is PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD by Brother Lawrence.  I had a little pamphlet that cost me $.25 and can't find it now, boohoo, because it costs $5 and more in all the possible places to find it now.  Still worth it and definitely worth the read.

When I was trying to be a stay at home mom with Mary Gentry, I started an ASK ANNALOU service.  I was always writing so I called that portion of it HIS WORDSMITH and I wanted all of it including this blog to come under the heading IN HIS NAME.  It is very important to me at the end of every day to check and see if I had been faithfully in the center of HIS WILL never my own that whole day.  

One more absolutely frustrating thing about getting old is trying to figure out each day just what I should or should not be doing and I am not talking about sinful stuff - not to say I don't have to worry about that too - thought wise, feeling wise, interacting with everyone wise - but just getting up in the morning and knowing or hoping to know just what the day holds forth and just what choices I should make to fulfill it IN HIS NAME and in HIS WILL.  Is isn't easy, trust me.  There are days that are half gone or more and I still haven't figured it out - God forgive me.  I wake up and beg God to will me out of the bed.  He does and off I go.  I do better when I plan to accomplish if not three things at least get one or two things on the list so I can mark them DONE.  If that is all that I do that day I still go to bed at peace and say it was a good day.  On the days I don't accomplish one of the list items if I have faithfully done what my regular daily chores are and NOT COMPLAINED in my heart about it - such as dishes into the dishwasher and dishes out and then dishes waiting in the sink to do it ALL OVER AGAIN.  I count that as my accomplishment IN HIS NAME for that day and still go to bed in perfect peace.  Honestly - I really do and feel just fine about it too.

God bless to all and may today be filled with great adventures and exciting events all to experience and accomplish IN HIS NAME.