we all have a sweet spot

 A Sweet spot is different than a sweet tooth.


But the feeling you get from being in your sweet spot is just as good as eating some high quality chocolate. Better actually.


I have been out of my sweet spot for a long time. But I  am  finding my way back to it.


Before kids I was involved in a fabulous childrens ministry at our Church in Edmonton. My role was not just teaching the kids, but also teaching, leading and mentoring the team of volunteers we had working in ministry with us. It was a challenging job but very fulfilling and it did suit my skills and giftings wonderfully. I got to teach, lead, create, and play. I got to share Jesus with kids, and help adults find their areas of giftings and the excitement of serving Him.


I have been out of this area of service for a while. Sure, I have had my own kids to work with and its great but not the same. And I have been involved in the nursery and some small teaching/leading roles at our church but nothing has filled me with joy, passion and excitement like I've experienced this past week.


A couple weeks ago we started a mom's group at our church. It is small and it is intimate, and there are kids everywhere. Looking past that, I am loving authenticity, community, leading, teaching (though minimal, because I have as much to learn as the others do). We have undertaken the challenge of daily devotions. Some of us are getting up early, some of us do it other times. Some are following a Bible reading plan, others are not. Regardless we are all getting back to the basics of reading His Word. It's exciting. May not seem so to some of you, but we are all exhausted mommies who do not have much extra time and this simple discipline has been neglected for a while. It has been truly life giving for me. And my soul is lit up when I see others getting closer to Him! Sweet spot #1. Mentoring, leading and teaching. ahhhhhh....


The second area that I have started to serve is by helping with the Awana group that my older two boys are involved in. It is a super simple job that I have, but to see kids excited about learning God's Word and Truth makes me come alive and fills me with joy. The teaching they are recieving and the examples they are seeing in action of vibrant adults who love Jesus is priceless. I saw pride dripping off of these little ones who had worked so hard to memorize John 3:16, and the excitement was thick. They were so excited to be together, to worship, to make friends, to learn and show us what they have learned. Last year I had one child in Awana and it was such a great thing for our family and so when the opportunity arose for me to be involved I said yes. It is not something I will regreat. It has brought me back to my sweet spot. It reminds me why I trained to be a teacher, and why I loved serving at the church. These kids are not only adorable, teachable, exciteable but they are also powerful for Him. I used to be bothered by the fact that the kids had to memorize (achieve) in order to recieve recognition. What if they were not good memorizers? What if they just say the verse only to forget it immediately? But I have concluded that even if it takes them a month to learn that verse, God has been working, and His Word is in their heart as a result. They are in His Word!

 Too many of us are serving in areas that are not in our 'sweet spot' because that is where the need is, and I am thankful for those of you who are dutiful in filling the holes but it is so much better to be in your sweet spot. I see too many of my peers being 'dutiful' and getting dried out, frustrated and annoyed in their area of service. Just because you are a mom doesn't mean that you need to be passionate about serving in the nursery. Just because your kids are in high school doesn't mean that you need to volunteer with youth. Sometimes it should be reversed. I see too many people sick of serving, because they have been serving out of their area of gifting. Some of my peers can not serve in their area of gifting because they are too busy being dutiful and filling the holes in ministries they feel obligated serving in. Once their children are out of these ministries moms are exhausted from serving in these ministries they do not love and they do not want to help in other areas.  I understand this, but this is a problem. I would love to see people excited and passionatly serving in their areas of gifting- giving, serving, excited, passionate and fulfilled.

All of this to say to you--- Have you found your sweet spot? What areas of ministry ignite passion in your life? The Bible says we all have gifts. We are all part of the body of Christ, and all of our gifts are necessary for the body to function properly. You have something to offer!!! You have a unique gift that God has given you to use for Him. You may not think so. You may not know what it is, yet. But when you find it, it makes serving FUN, enjoyable and life giving. It may take years to discover your area of passion but I tell you when you find it you will know it.

I hope and pray that you will find your sweet spot.

a fresh look at hospitality

"Every family should have the spirit of hospitality. Our homes and family are not to be built to bless ourselves, but as a place of mission to reach out from." Helen Lee (from the Focus on the Family radio broadcast)

"Hospitality is about not about how neat your house is or how perfect everything looks, its about an openness to building relationships with other people. That is what God is all about."

Woah!! That is so amazing to think about. Life is not about just my comfort and pleasure???

It should be about looking outward- what are the needs that our family can help with. How can God use us as a family, even my kids to make a difference to the world?

When I think about this I am thinking beyond hospitality but into the whole area of serving as a family. This is something I am challenged about, and my lame excuses are that my kids are too young, it's too hard, they can't do anything, they won't learn anything, we can't afford to go anywhere to do missions. I guess what God is saying to me is that there are lots of opportunities we aren't seeing because we aren't looking. Even in our church there are lots of new families who need someone to invite them over. Those families we meet at swimming lessons or know from the playground- what an opportunity to practice hospitality! Those relationships and opportunities aren't hard for me. In our community there is a womans and youth shelter, there is a soup kitchen, probably a dozen long term care facilities, and there is always something we could be doing if we look. I think I will begin to pray about opportunities God may have for our family.

I could BE the joy!

This is absolutely amazing. Every mother needs to read this!
From pages 193 and 194 of "One thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp


" God calls me to DO thanks. To give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living. That our lives become the very blessings we have received.
I am blessed.
 I can bless.
 Imagine!
 I could let Him make ME the gift!

I could be the joy!

I scour pots and grin silly: I can wash feet here by washing dishes. My heart can enter into communcion anywhere and anywhere my hands can encact thanksgiving. The tap water runs hot over my hands and I rinse steel. The world gleams. Christ's ministry began with His miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. And at the close of His earthly ministry, Christ turns from the wine of the Last Supper back to the water, the water for washing of feet....

Scratching a stubborn pot furiously with a wire scrubby,  I remember it again, what I once read of liturgy. That liturgy has its roots in the Greet word leitorgia, meaning 'public work' or 'public servant.' The meaning! This life of washing dishes, of domestic routine, it can be something wholly different. This life of rote work, it is itself public work, a public serving--- even this scrubbing of pans- and thus, if done unto God, the mundane work can become the living liturgy of the Last Supper.
 I could become the blessing, live the liturgy!
I rinse pots and sing it softly, "This is my song of thanks to You..."
In the moment of singing that one line, dedicating the work as thanks to Him, something- the miracle- happens, and every time. When service is unto people, the bones can grow weary, the frustration deep.

 Because, agrees Dorothy Sayers, "Whenever man in made the centre of things, he becomes the storm- centre of trouble. The moment you think of serving people, you begin to have a notion that other people owe you something for your pains... You will begin to bargain for reward, to angle for applause."


When the laundry is done for the dozen arms of children or the dozen legs, it's true, I think I'm due for some appreciation. So comes a storm of trouble and lightning strikes joy.

 But when Christ is at the center, when dishes, laundry, work, is my song of thanks to Him, joy rains. Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant of all. When the eyes of the heart focus on God, and the hands on always washing the feet of Jesus alone-- the bones, they sing joy, and the work becomes worship, a liturgy of thankfulness.

"The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action," writes Mother Teresa. "If we pray the work... if we do it to Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, if we do it with Jesus.... that's what makes us content."



pleasing and serving? different or the same?

I would love your input, thoughts and feedback on this one...

I was thinking yesterday about how rewarding it has been to encourage others (thanks for your comments and emails!) and I love the feeling of making people happy. It makes me all warm and fuzzy to have done something good for someone else. ya, ya, you all  feel the same way. There is a slight addiction, I want to do more good, to feed my ego.

That's one side of the coin. Another part of me is this stubborn, stong willed person who does not want to do things just to please others. I do not want to lay down on the road and allow people to walk all over me. I do not want to say things just to make people happy. I do not want to compromise who I am to make life easier for someone else. I do not want to conform to this image that others might have of me as a farm wife, mother, and homeschooler.

Gulp. This is something I struggle with, obviously. And it reaches into my marriage (hubby would admit that I am a strong willed individual!) and into my parenting (I think that at least 2 of my kids are strong willed as well, and though they are young, we already have some great power struggles)!

So when I think about serving my family, in my mind I would love to be that quiet peaceful wife willing to do whatever it took to make my family happy. I know some of these unselfish ladies who serve with ease, and who do not seem to mind. I admire them. I marvel at them. But when I get into that "I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy, honey" mood, I don't make it through the day without feeling resentful and just grumpy. That's not who I am. Is that what God wants me to be?

In adjusting to this life as a farmers wife, I have had a few people tell me to 'just get used to it, this is how life on the farm is,' and that didn't sit well with me. I am too fiestly to "just get used to" to anything that I do not like. There has to be a better way, a compromise of some sort? I don't know what it is yet.

A little off topic, but the quote "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" just popped into my mind. It must apply to this somehow???

Anyways, my question is, how do I learn to serve, without compromising myself? How do I serve my husband and my kids without feeling resentful and grumpy? I know that it has to come from the Lord's filling me with love for them, for others, for myself. I know that I do not always have to be all happy go lucky about serving- it is not always joyful, but to persevere in it anyways. I know that as I serve others, I want to serve more. I know that I am uniquely made and gifted, and that the ways I serve my husband will not be the same as anyone else. I know that I will have to overcome my selfishness sometimes. Get off my diva platform and think of others.

This will be a journey- we have been married for 8.5 years already and I struggle with this maybe more now than I did in the beginning. My oldest child is turning 6 this summer and I am out of the baby stage now, and serving starts looking different than it has up to now.

I know that God is using my marriage and my motherhood to shape me into who He wants me to be, and I must submit to His molding and be willing to surrender to Him even if I don't want to.

What do you think? How do you maintain your sense of self in the midst of being a servant to your family? How have you learned to serve and not just please others? Please, I would LOVE to hear what you have to say.