Are you a mom in ministry?
Moms in ministry come in all forms, from leading your child’s Sunday School class, baking brownies for the Easter Carnival, to volunteering for Vacation Bible School, a mom in ministry is a woman who gives back to her children, church, and community.
While all this volunteering sounds so noble and just, it’s also really hard work. Because on top of your “good deeds” in ministry, you still have to juggle all the other needs of your family like finding the baseball jersey in the pile of dirty laundry for the All-Star game this evening and come up with an answer to the never-ending question of what’s for dinner. As a mom, you are always multi-tasking, doing your best to meet everyone’s needs.
Aren’t you tired?
If you answered yes, you are not alone. Two years ago, I found myself in a very exhaustive state as a mom in ministry. I can remember feeling like I was taking care of everyone but myself and I wondered if any of what I was doing was really worth it. Were my kids even going to remember all that I did for them at church and in our home? Or, were they going to have this memory of a worn out mom who was irritable and snappy over the smallest things?
He tells me that the only person I need to be pleasing is him. My works don’t matter if they don’t line up with his plan for my life. God has been making me acutely aware that if I put being a mom or my work in ministry before him, than I am not following his very first commandment to love him above all other things.
Sometimes we are moms in ministry because we feel like it is the right thing to do. Other times we say yes because we are awful at saying no. When we act this way, we are missing the heart of ministry. The Greek word for ministry specifically refers to Spirit-empowered service guided by faith. While we might be moms that volunteer for ministry, if we are not doing what the Spirit directs us to do, then we are dead, not serving anyone fully.
But Paul tells us that there is another way to be fully alive as a mom in ministry. In Ephesians two, he shares that God made us alive with Christ even when we were dead. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
You and I, we were created in Christ to do what God has designed us to do. Doesn’t that give you such relief to know that God has already prepared what we are supposed to do in our short time here on Earth? We don’t have to plan and schedule and prepare ourselves. All he is asking is for us to love him, be in his Spirit.
When we do the good works that God wants us to do instead of what we think we are expected to do as moms, then we are truly alive and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I know sometimes it is hard to distinguish between what’s a good thing and what God wants for us, so here are five questions you can ask yourself to discern what God wants for you as a mom in ministry:
1. Do you have peace or anxiety when you say yes?
2. Is this something you want out of your own ambitions or is this a God-given desire?
3. Did you pray?
4. What fruit will produce from the labor you are investing? Will any fruit produce at all?
5. Is this a way to grow your relationship with Christ/will this be influential for your kids and family?
If you have any hesitation with these questions, take some time before you commit yourself to something that God might not be calling you to do. On the flip side, if your answers to these questions are lined up with the direction the Spirit is moving in your life, commit to the tasks wholeheartedly. Don’t worry about time, money, or stress – God will work all of that out for you.
Move where God tells you to move as a mom in ministry. He will provide and he will also redirect you if you are willing to be guided by his Spirit.
Question: What makes you tired as a mom in ministry? Which question above is hardest for you to answer?
ps: I am so excited to be sharing more about motherhood and ministry at the Better Together conference later this month. Join me? Hope to see you there!
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