One day, years ago, I received a phone call that rocked me. A dear friend was hurt. She'd been hurting for a while and she needed help. Her husband called to ask me why I hadn't reached out and offered any assistance to her or their family. He sternly reminded me of all of the times she'd helped me. I could hear his disappointment as he scolded me for failing to reach out to her and let me know how hurt she was that I hadn't and he also let me know that he expected me to make it right.
I was shattered.
He was absolutely right.
The following day I called to apologize to my friend and offered my assistance. I arranged a time to go to her home and do whatever needed doing. I ended up scouring her bathroom until I could see my reflection smiling back at me in the toilet bowl!
It became crystal clear to me just how weak the gift of service/helps is for me during that humbling experience. Seriously, I score higher on every other spiritual gift listed in scripture when I take any sort of "spiritual gift inventory". Exhortation, now that is where I'll shine! I'll put so much energy into a conversation while encouraging someone that I won't even notice the tables and chairs being broken down around me at a gathering until I'm asked to stand up so someone can take the chair that I'm sitting on!
After that difficult phone call, I began to pray about better recognizing opportunities to serve.
My husband has service as his #1 gift and I see him practice it all the time. It's absolutely seamless for him to offer assistance in any number of circumstances. He's served on a mission team to Guatemala more than a dozen times over the years and LOVES IT. He is always doing little things for me that are a tremendous help. Acts of Service is his love language.
My youngest daughter is the same way.
A few years back she said "Mom, let's go on that Alaska family missions trip with church. I wanna help those kids in the parks." My reply, "Ummmmmm, Ok. If that's something you're interested in, I'll do it."
Not exactly an enthusiastic response.
I went. I served. I enjoyed it. I watched my daughter do what God called her to do there. I helped, but much of the experience was uncomfortable for me. I wasn't really inspired to particular action but did what I knew to do. Talked with kids, played a little and cleaned up after people. I did what I was asked to do and I watched God work and that was wonderful. I learned things about myself and those folks that we were serving. I practiced my strongest spiritual gift, exhortation/encouragement, as often as possible. The bottom line is that the movement of God matters enough to me that when we had the opportunity to return the following year, we did.
The year after that the timing wasn't right for us and we didn't go to Alaska and my husband took our daughter to serve on a team in Guatemala instead.
The following year I was asked to lead the kitchen team for the Alaska trip.
That involves planning menus and shopping and organizing the team to complete the tasks needed to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 80-120 people that have come from across the US to serve with GraceWorks.
I hadn't seen that opportunity coming.
While it didn't shock me, it WAS a surprise. Kitchen work is my day job and it's not occurred to me to serve with those skills anywhere. Again, service is not my strength, it simply doesn't enter my mind. You'd think it would. "Oh, someone needs help in the kitchen. I'll lend a hand." Nope. That is not a thought that runs through my head!
Covid hit and we weren't able to take that trip.
Over the next year I found myself thinking about menu ideas and how to work with the different equipment available in the GraceWorks kitchen. Sometimes things just need to percolate for me to fully embrace them. God knows this about me.
When the opportunity came around again I was prepared to say yes!
I raised funds. I prepared menus. I made lists and I prepared my heart to go.
My head hit the pillow of my bunk in Alaska around midnight on Sunday night and I was awake well before my 5 am alarm on Monday morning. The kitchen crew would report at 6:30 am and I headed down at 6 to spend some time with God and get my feet under me.
After my personal prayer time, I opened my Bible to I Corinthians 15:57. "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This would be the verse for the day for the teams that I was feeding all day. These teams would serve communities in city parks throughout Anchorage. As I began to pray the verse about victory for those serving in the parks, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to verse 58. "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I began to meditate on this verse and pray it over the kitchen service daily while offering my labor for the Lord to use as He would.
Of course, something amazing happened.
I moved through the week experiencing such a depth of purpose!
As a result, I found myself able to prioritize evening rest in order to prepare well for the following day. This is unheard of for me! I do not well resist socializing in favor of rest. I love chatting with people and exploring and adventuring with others while getting to know them and I was rooming with 4 other women that I really wanted to know better! When people are around I stay up and out far too late. Whenever I head out for an evening with friends, I try to give my husband a time when I'll be home. He'll just wave me off, shake his head, and chuckle. While in Anchorage, I passed on moosing and hiking and beautiful view drinking in favor of sleep. Me! The Holy Spirit gently reminded me each evening "to give myself fully to the work of the Lord" because I couldn't have done that on my own!
Well-rested, I stepped into each morning excited about the work before me.
I experienced a joy of service while in that kitchen that I have never experienced before while serving! There were challenges in the kitchen. Personality conflicts (we are only human after all), oven space and time puzzles, preparation of special diet items and menu shuffling all necessitated problem-solving...daily. But what a delight it was to have God use the skills He had equipped me with to serve those that were serving! And it connected me to the service of the community in the parks.
Please don't misunderstand. It's not as though I am suddenly inspired to cook for everyone all the time or that I see opportunities to serve all around me. My strongest gift, wiring, and abiding joy are still to exhort, teach and share stories of deep living with others. However, I now have a greater appreciation for the satisfaction and joy experienced by those that exercise the gift of service as naturally as their breath. This will allow me to better encourage them as they exercise their gift!
He always gives me much better gifts than those I offer Him. Serving in the kitchen at GraceWorks was an incredibly equipping gift that allowed me to better understand my brothers and sisters that are more gifted in serving than I. It also cultivated in me a deeper desire to serve than I've had before. And you know what else? After that week, I was privileged to spend 48 hours with my teammates moosing and hiking and beautiful view drinking while sharing stories of deep living with them.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17
