Add It To My Resume - I am a Church Planter


(my grandbaby...)
Why is it we tend to focus on what we have not (yet) done, as opposed to what we have done?


I remember when I first realized that I am a gardener. For the longest time I actually thought that since I didn't tend to large expanses of lush gardens, that I was not a gardener.


This sort of bedeviled thinking has crept into my thoughts on ministry. My husband and I have planted one church, so far - the one he currently pastors. We and a few (a very few...a reeeeeeeally, really few) stalwart souls planted it from the ground, up. One church. More than most people ever plant in a lifetime. It has grown to be a thing of beauty.


To think that I am not yet a church planter because I've planted "only" one church is like saying I am not yet a mother because I have had "only" one child. Ridiculous. The fact that I have had four children does not make me more of a mother than the woman who has had only one child.


Now I'm not talking about stretching the truth. I won't be calling myself a photographer just because I've snapped a few pictures, or an artist because I've painted a landscape. (Well, I've almost painted a landscape. I have yet to finish my first painting. Shoot - I am compulsively honest.) But most of us aren't into stretching the truth. A lot of women I know tend to sell themselves too short, rather than the other way around. (There are a few who oversell themselves, but I usually can smell that a mile away, and I avoid those few.)


My daughter is no less a mother, just because her child is yet unborn. Now that is a concept! That concept speaks to all things yet unborn in our lives - things that God sees, but we don't. Much like the way He called Abraham the Father of Many Nations. Much like the way He called Gideon a Mighty Man of Valor.


Because your God has better plans for you than you know, you yourself are more than you realize.


Who are you?


4 comments:

Susan said...

I am so very thankful to God for bringing us together! I believe we have so much in common ... but He already knew this.

Now I will say a heartfelt "Congratulations" on your new grandbaby!!! It's been an awesome experience to see how my own daughter has grown throughout the years, and her daughter is now a toddler. God is truly amazing -- I stand in awe of all He has done in our lives. There is no greater joy ... and no greater heart-tugging than that of a grandchild.

Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. I often have told my husband and daughter that I'm not really sure "why" I began blogging. But God already knew ...

I hope you have a wonderful day and a blessed weekend.

Sheila Atchley said...

Me too! Thanks for the congratulations - we find out whether it is a boy or girl the end of this month. ::squeal:: We do seem to have much in common - for one, neither of us "looks like" we should be grannies! ACK!

You have a blessed Friday and a blessed weekend, too!

Susan said...

I feel just like you -- am I REALLY a Granny??? I've asked "old Granddad" if I've got an ego problem since I really don't mind being mistaken for Lucy's Mommy! When people say how adorable, cute, precious ... she is, then I say something like "yeah, she really keeps us grandparents hopping", then they are speechless!

I hope to email you this weekend. Sometimes our house can get a little chaotic, so just in case I don't, you'll know it's just our organized chaos! My daughter helped me set up a gmail account and hook it into my blog (old Granny's still learning).

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sheila Atchley said...

I'll be looking for your email!

Oooooh, I hope someone says something like that to ME, when I'm out with my grandbaby, just so I can fluff my feathers and say exactly what you did!

:-)