Week 7: June 22-28
I’m going to be honest (this series is called confessions after all), this week was very discouraging and challenging. Chloe and I were so excited for our first club that was supposed to be in the home of a young mother who attends my church. We got to the club and no children showed up. Chloe and I decided to use the time instead to walk the neighborhood, knock on some doors, and invite some kids. We put out flyers, I sent out Facebook messages to some people, and we did everything we could think to do. Still we went back the next day, prayed for children to show up, but none did. I decided it would be best not to continue with the club as this was supposed to be our hands-on second week of training and it’s hard to get practice doing a club when there are no kids. So instead we decided to spend the rest of the week working with Westmoreland County at their club. The problem was solved but it was still a very discouraging start to the summer. We were excited to minister to some kids and apply everything we had learned at training, and then not a single kid showed up.
Nevertheless, we continued on with the week in Westmoreland County. Wednesday morning I was supposed to meet Cathy, the director of Westmoreland County CEF, at a church so she could lead us to the club. Well I was already running late picking up Chloe. Then to make it worse, I missed my exit and didn’t notice until I was fifteen miles further down the road. Then I had to drive another twenty to the destination. Not to mention, there is road work all over the Greater Pittsburgh area this summer! And we got there late and barely in enough time for Chloe to teach the memory verse. It was very stressful and I was pretty flustered that morning. We went to some extra training after the club with the Westmoreland team at a park. We had just finished eating lunch together when it started downpouring. Chloe and I decided to leave before roads flooded and so we didn’t get to stay as long as I’d hoped. Our feet were soaked and I drove very carefully back to the Greater Pittsburgh area. Thankfully we got there safely, but it just added more to my already stressful day.
We returned to my church and Chloe attempted an evaluation for one of her Bible lessons. It wasn’t that she did a bad job, she just missed a lot of the application and gospel points CEF puts into lessons. So she didn’t pass. I could see that she was extremely frustrated and discouraged. I tried to encourage her but I wasn’t really sure how to help her. I dropped her off and I think we were both feeling very frustrated and discouraged after the events of the day. That was up until Wednesday of this week. Things weren’t going very well at all. I remember being in the car on one of the drives feeling like God wasn’t answering any of my prayers like I wanted him to. I knew God heard my prayers and was answering me (Jeremiah 33:3) but he wasn’t answering with a “Yes!” like I really wanted him to. It was a very discouraging first half of the week. NOTHING had gone the way I had wanted it to and it seemed like everything was going wrong.
But then Thursday came and things started to get turned around. Cathy was able to help her missionaries and Chloe with links which also helped them a lot with gospel applications. Chloe worked on the same lesson again and evaluated on it and got all of the points. I believe I had only positive feedback for her. So that was very encouraging. We didn’t get lost the rest of the week which was also encouraging. And we got to spend time with our Westmoreland friends, which is always a blessing. Chloe taught the lesson on Friday and did an excellent job. It seemed like things finally turned around.
I figured since God didn’t answer my prayers the way I expected, he must have had a better plan in mind. And I’m not totally sure if there’s more to it or not, but to me it seems like just being able to work with Cathy this week is reason enough. I think she was able to help Chloe in ways that I wouldn’t have known how to since she is a more experienced director. God may have had other reasons for guiding us to Westmoreland County this past week, I trust that he answered my prayers the best way possible even if I don’t know the reason.
Basically this week I learned that it’s important to be both flexible and proactive, that God is always in control, and that prayer is super important to ministry. Chloe and I had to be flexible on the first day when no one showed up. We were willing to not go through with club for that day. But we didn’t just sit around and decide not to do the club, waiting for kids to show up, we went out and were proactive as well. We invited kids. We didn’t everything we could do before moving onto the next option. I learned that God is always in control. I trust that he always hears my prayers and I have to continue trusting in him even when he doesn’t answer them the way I planned on him doing. It doesn’t mean he’s mean and just doesn’t feel like helping me, it means he has something better in store. And I learned that prayer is super important in ministry. Chloe and I definitely felt some spiritual attack this week, and we both knew that in part, it was because we weren’t praying enough. I mean sure, we prayed when we wanted kids to show up. But we weren’t really making prayer a priority and we need to do that. We need to be sure to involve the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom Work we are involved in, because without his strength, we have no chance at success.
This week started out terrible. But God somehow managed, like he always does, to turn it around and use it for his glory. I’m so glad I serve a God that can turn awful weeks into great testimonies.
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