Four-and-a-half years ago, I gathered my family around our dining room table for a very important discussion: I was strongly considering going into full-time ministry. Such a consequential decision was not to be made lightly. It would mean leaving a congregation we loved and the only home our children had ever known. I would have to walk away from a successful career – and all the advantages that came with it – for a very different sort of job than I had done before. It was scary, for me and for them.
Granted, this decision wasn’t out of the blue. For a few years, our lives had already been dramatically changing as we learned to truly follow Jesus daily. I had taken on more and more of a role – albeit volunteer – supporting the ministry of my mentor, even traveling with him on weekends to help lead studies and training sessions. As such, I was very much being equipped for “the work of ministry”, often finding myself praying with, comforting, and encouraging others in the church (cf. Eph. 4:11-13). I had even been completing online ministry classes in anticipation that such a career change might be coming.
But knowing something is coming doesn’t necessarily make it easier. Change – or at least the loss we often associate with it – is hard. So, as we gathered around the table, I wanted each of us to take a turn talking about it. What was something exciting about me going into ministry? What was something we were worried about? I still remember my worry – and I wasn’t wrong. I’d seen enough from what I had already been doing at church to know: people have really big problems. Voice quavering, I confessed to my family my fear that people would have problems that I wasn’t good enough to handle. This prompted Rachel – only 5 years old at the time – to get up from her seat, walk to my side, and place her little hand on my arm. She then looked me in the eyes as she said, “Don’t worry, Daddy: Jesus will help you.”
Jesus will help you. Do you see how different that response from the mouths of babes is? Normally, we tell ourselves or each other things like, “No, you can do it! Whatever problems come up, you can handle it!” But that’s not where Rachel went: her confidence was in Jesus. That precious, loving little girl just knew with all her heart that Jesus was the answer. He would make it okay. And you know what? She wasn’t wrong, either. “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need,” the Apostle Paul wrote. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phi. 4:12-13). Jesus has strength for you. He will help you. The secret is to let Him.
God wants to strengthen us. Let’s get to work with “Stronger”.