Life as a Gift (And not how you think)

Here is the meditation from www.upperroom.org.daily for today:

ALL OF US have life experience in our hands. Of course, this life experience differs vastly from one person to another. It usually includes lessons we have learned while growing up, the work we have done, the mistakes we have made, the successes we have achieved, and, perhaps most importantly from God’s perspective, the painful things we have suffered. Our life experience represents a huge resource for God’s use in healing a hurting world. As we learn from many Bible stories, the way God uses us is often related to the ups and downs we have gone through.

- Trevor Hudson
Questions God Asks Us

This certainly rings true as, having returned from the Stephen Leaders training, and after meeting with the other two Stephen leaders from Calvary light night, I'm preparing to preach on Stephen Ministry and the broader idea of lay ministry this Sunday.

One of the greatest things about the idea of lay people caring for and walking along side people going through life (like a divorce, loss job, change in family, death, etc.) is that while one person (i.e. a pastor) will not have experienced every situation (and of course even at that each person experiences situations differently), by using the experiences of a whole group of lay people--in this case Stephen Ministers--we're able to really pair Stephen Ministers with care receivers, using the SM's own life experiences as a gift to be used in that relationship. Not that they now have the answers. Not at all. But that they understand a little bit more than someone else would, and can help remind their care receiver that they're not alone, and that others have made it through similar circumstances.

I'm really excited to see how this ministry grows in the coming year. We've decided to aim for a January start to the training (50 total hours, about 20 weeks, which is still much less of a commitment than Disciple!) and we would like to have at least 12 people in that class. Once a person completes the class, they will be assigned a "care receiver"...someone who needs a brother or sister in Christ to walk alongside them. SMs and CRs are paired based on same-gender pairing, experiences of the Sm that would be helpful, and personalities that seem to be a good pair.

The Stephen Ministry program is really great, and I'm so excited to be working with it. We've got a few ideas already of people who are interested in the training, so I hope we can recruit even more. Like is often the case, the SMs get as much, if not more, out of the whole experience as do the CRs!

Pretty cool to think that God can redeem even the hard parts of our lives to allow us to help others face their own challenges with strength and hope.