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“You want me to what?” Katie reached for the baby wipe and automatically went about the business of changing the baby’s diaper. She snapped the onesie closed, scooped up the baby and went back to the living room where her other two children were playing.
“Lord, I’m already the nursery coordinator and Shelley asked me to help in the preschool department. I’m better at teaching kids than their moms. Remember?” God’s silence was unnerving. She remembered Pastor Mike’s message about God’s persistence with His children, and sighed as she settled into her chair.
“I don’t have time to take on something else, Lord.” Katie arranged the pillow so it would support her arm.
What are you doing, Katie?
“I’m nursing Josiah, just like I do every four hours, Father.” After settling Josiah, Katie reached for her Bible.
And now what are you doing? The still voice within her asked.
“Studying my ladies’ Bible study lesson.” Katie paused what she was doing and thoughtfully caressed Josiah’s peach-fuzz hair. Thoughts swirled inside her head, making her wonder if maybe she did have time.
“But Lord, I’m already doing the nursery, and what about the preschool department?” She rested her head back against the chair, a weight settling within her. “Now I’m confused, Lord. I’ve worked with kids all my life, I love them and I’ve been asked to help with them, but I feel You’re asking me to do something different, to work with the ladies instead. How do I know it’s You and not just my imagination?”
Katie flipped through her Bible, slowly turning to the passage they were studying. So many thoughts were flying through her mind that she couldn’t concentrate. Finally she set her Bible aside and simply sat and thought while tracing Josiah’s tiny fingers.
Would God really pull her out of an area she was good in and lead her to a place where she had no experience or training? Was she just imagining God prodding her to lead a ladies’ Bible study? What about the nursery? Was she not supposed to be Nursery Coordinator? She certainly didn’t feel right just walking away from that, but she realized she hadn’t been enjoying it like she once did. Was that God preparing her for a change? Then she came back to the fact that she’d been asked to help with the preschool department and not the Ladies’ Bible Study.
Katie moved the pillow and resettled Josiah. “Lord, I want to do whatever You want me to. If that means doing something I’ve never done before, then that’s ok, just please work through me. Lead me to where You want me. And Lord? I’m so confused, could You just write it on the wall for me so I know it’s You and not just my imagination, and then confirm it through my husband? I really want to do whatever You want me to.”
That afternoon as Katie helped the kids pick up their toys the phone rang. She checked the clock as she picked it up. It was Virginia, her Bible study leader, and what she said stopped Katie mid-stride.
“I’m sorry, Virginia, what did you say?”
Virginia chuckled. “It’s time to start a Bible study group for new mothers and we’d like you to consider teaching it.”
Katie dropped into her chair. “Virginia, I’ve never taught adults before and I’m already doing the nursery. Shelley’s asked me to help in the preschool department, too.”
“Well, Misty has volunteered to take over the nursery, and that’s a perfect spot for her. I didn’t know about the preschool department, but I do know someone who would be great there, and I have no doubt you’d do just fine teaching the women.”
When her husband walked in the door, Katie was still sitting in her chair, staring at a picture on the wall that her niece had drawn for her. The verse on it said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”*
Seeing her shell-shocked look her husband hurried to her. “What’s wrong?”
Katie’s eyes were wide. “Virginia asked me to teach the Bible study for new moms.”
“That’s great!” he said, laughing.
“But I’ve never taught adults before.”
He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “You’ll do great, Hon, and it’s not like you’ll be doing it alone—God will be with you.”
Katie laughed, relieved and reassured all at once. “Well, I guess it’s the writing on the wall.”
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (New International Version)
*Philippians 4:13
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