My ministries

So as a mom of two little girls my days mostly consist of keeping my 4 month old happy and keeping my 2 year old alive. There are a lot of play dates involved and a lot of walks to the park and when I get a chance and have any energy left over, a bit of housecleaning. I love being a mom and am pretty sure that is what I was born to do. However I have felt the pain of not being able to get out and show Christ's love to people in my community and in the world. My heart's desire is to be a missionary overseas, but God hasn't seen fit to enable me to do that just yet. Now, many people have told me that at this point in my life my children are ministry and that I don't need to worry about doing anything more. I know this is true, but I'm not content with that. I want my children to see me ministering to other people and I want to feel like I'm making some sort of difference with people outside of my own family in addition to it.

...as I was writing this, my 2 year old daughter Mwende came running over and knocked a tall glass of Crystal Lite all over my husband's laptop which I was using. If you wouldn't mind please pray that 1-my husband's computer is salvageable. 2-he continues to let me use it. and 3-I get my own laptop! I am now using our less than reliable and noticeably slow desktop computer. :p...

ANYWAY, yes my children are my ministry but I am not content to stop there. So I started looking for ministry opportunities that I can do with my kids since I am a Stay-At-Home Mom. Turns out that they don't take volunteers with kids in tow down at the pregnancy clinic and its the same story with every other ministry that I could find. In short I would need to find child care to do any sort of typical ministry. Then, in my Reach class at Calvary Church of Santa Ana, one of the elders introduced me to Global Media Outreach (http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/). They needed volunteers to become Online Missionaries. Reach the world for Christ from the comfort of your very own home! FINALLY here was something I could do without neglecting my children. It is very simple really. I answer emails from people who are seeking God. I signed up after my 2nd baby girl turned 1 month old and have been doing it (nearly) every day since. I get emails from 3 types of people. People who don't know Jesus but want more information about him. People who have gone to one of GMO's website (e.g. Jesus2020.com) and accepted Christ as their Lord & Savior as a result and people who have recommitted their lives to Christ. I answer their emails by giving them guidance in what step to take next in their journey, answering any questions they might have, encouraging them in whatever trials they find themselves in and then encouraging them to write back. Not many people write back, but I've found that I am able to be a tremendous encouragement to those that do. It makes me so happy that I am able to reach out and touch these people from all around the world as they seek God. I don't intend to stop this ministry ANY time soon!

The second ministry that I jumped on board with is called Safe Families (http://www.safe-families.org/). This ministry involves families in the church stepping in and opening up their homes to the children of parents who are in crisis and unable to care for their children for either or short or longer period of time. As soon as I heard of this ministry I wanted to be involved. I have a strong desire to be a "safe family" myself and open my home to children in need, but for certain reasons I am unable to at this time. But that hasn't stopped me from getting involved in other ways! I signed up to babysit, make meals and to be administrative support. Babysitting and making meals are obvious. As an administrator I call people who have signed up to find out exactly how they want to be involved and also input new volunteer information. Hopefully someday God will also see fit to bless me with the opportunity to welcome a child in need into my home!

So as you can see I have managed to find ministry opportunities that I can jump into without compromising my ministry to my children. I am hoping to start using this blog to report on how these ministries have blessed me.