Recently, I met a wonderfully peaceful woman who is awaiting her Missionary Visa to serve the people of India. We had a lovely conversation about her desire to travel and serve the poorest of the poor alongside a group of Religious Sisters in a small town, in the heart of India. Assuring her of my prayers for her travel and mission as we parted ways, I mused how I had always longed to serve in a similar manner. The time has not yet arrived for that to be fulfilled but the yearning is certainly planted deep in my heart. The hunger makes itself known each time I read about, hear about, or see stories of missionaries at work. However, now is not the season for international missionary work for me.
As I reflected on the work this woman would be doing and the nagging pang I felt in my soul, I was reminded that there is a season for everything the Lord asks of us. And though I am not called in this period to travel abroad and serve the poor, I am ministering right where the Lord is calling me at this time. His work is not only in extremely poor countries where the inhabitants are ravaged by war and social injustices and among the most extreme of the monetarily poor. The Lord needs workers in every avenue of life. “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:16.
In each season, the Lord has illuminated who he would like me to care for and assist. He plunks them in my path so as not to be missed. When my daughter was struggling with mental health concerns I was called to minister here, in my home. And there was a season where a friend struggled in her marriage and needed an encouraging listening ear, someone to support her staying in her marriage when the world was telling her to walk away. I was the attending companion. When my youngest, Carly, was born, I ministered to her birth mom, as well as cared for her, our fragile 26-week-old preemie. Not work for the weak of heart! Just after graduating college yet before we began our family, the Lord equipped me to work with mentally retarded and developmentally delayed adults. I supported them in their job training as well as secured daily services. While in college, I served in an emergency children’s home but then moved to live with mentally retarded and developmentally delayed women on the weekend and eventually through the week. Quite the variety for work for the Lord, in a range of settings. I never know where His next call will be, but try to diligently be faithful to His plan.
“I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:1
Sometimes we pine for and seek to serve those who we are not yet or may never be called to serve. We become restless. Yet, St. Teresa of Calcutta says it best when she reminds us to serve our loved ones right in front of us. She encourages us, “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” The Lord often calls us to serve right where we are.
I am one who desires to serve others and seeks opportunities to pour out myself for others, but I often have to be cautious that where I am serving is where the Lord is calling me. Sometimes what is appealing to me is not where He beckons me. Walking His way and doing as He asks of me takes great restraint, but oh how pleasing it is to Our Lord. Think of all the Saints and the variety of paths Our Lord took them on to serve Him in ways they never even imagined. God knows how we can best accomplish His work in the world at any given moment. We simply must abide.
“For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.” Galatians 5:13
Call to Act: Where is the Lord asking you to serve right now? Is it a place you desire to work? Are you longing to minister to another population? What signs has He given you that where you are serving is where He wants you or is He nudging you to take a difficult next step? Is it possible that He has placed a desire on your heart for another season of life that is yet to come? I encourage you to take it to prayer, sister. Ask the Lord to guide you and to open or close doors (or windows) for you to show you the way.
St. Sharbel, pray for us that we may be devoted to the work the Lord calls each of us to do today. Pray that we may be able to hear the clear call of the Lord and give Him all that we are, serving Him with our blood and sweat, just as you did so many years ago. Beg the Lord that we are able to sacrifice for his work. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
Saint Sharbel Makhlouf
St. Sharbel Makhlouf was born in 1828 in a small mountain village in Lebanon. He was the fifth child in his family. Always devout, he took his flock to graze and was daily was found at a Marian grotto praying when he was young. He began his formation at the age of 23 and then was ordained a priest in 1859 in the Maronite order. Known for his obedience, St. Sharbel labored in the fields with the monks for years and then asked to be moved to a hermitage where he could focus on his prayer as well as manual labor. The saint remained in the hermitage unless asked by his superiors to depart to heal the sick, both spiritually and physically. Known by many as “the saint inebriated with God”, he inspired many to live a life focused on the will of Our Lord. After his death of a stroke at the age of seventy, many miracles around his tomb were reported. After moving his tomb and investigation, St. Sharbel was found to be incorrupt and exuding seat and blood. People continued to pray for his intercession. God answered many of these prayers, providing cures and relief to the sick and suffering. Read more about him here: