Bloom Where You're Planted

My freshman year of college I attended a conference here in Houston called Tell Me How. It was hosted at Houston's First Baptist Church and put on by Living Proof Ministries. The keynote speakers were Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer and Christy Nockels, who not only led worship, but also taught a session. I clearly knew who Beth and Christy were at the time (we’re obviously on a first name basis), but it was my first introduction to Priscilla, whom from then on, I fell in love with. Her teaching was so powerful, she was hilarious and her passion was contagious.

The three of them each took a main session, there were breakouts to attend throughout the weekend and then at the very end, the three of them did a Q&A session with us. This was by far my favorite part of the weekend. It is amazing to me the rawness and vulnerability people express when asking a question anonymously. (They wrote in questions.) Questions ranged from Christy’s lipstick color (which was a MAC color and made my heart happy) to things I’d be too embarrassed to even mention on here. I’ll let your imagination go there. Or maybe it shouldn’t.

To this day I still refer back to those notes. I remember that being a really pivotal time in my walk with the Lord and I was all ears. I wanted to soak up any and all wisdom I could from these wise ladies because after all, I was a freshman in college, and what in the world did I want to do with my life? I was desperate to know how to not royally screw up my life.

I know I’m only 25 and have years ahead of me to mess up, but hearing stories of college kids fall off the deep end really scared me. I didn’t want to be just a statistic. Nor did I want to be a pharisee. Which unfortunately, I tend to fall in that category more often than not.

One girl geared her question specifically to Christy Nockels asking her basically how she gets to do what she does, and what did it take the essentially climb the latter of success? I think she was defining success in that Christy had CD's out and traveled to lead worship. For those of you who don’t know, Christy Nockels is an amazing worship leader. The Lord has clearly given her a gift and she uses it to glorify the Lord in a way that is very rare. This girl in particular had felt called to be in ministry similar to Christy’s and was curious. I totally understand that.

Like always, Christy was so gracious and had such wise words to share along with words of encouragement.

I was glued to her as she shared her journey with us. Not that I feel called to leading worship the rest of my life, but we’re all called to something and I wanted to know so badly how to know what I was called to and how do I pursue that calling?

She said one thing at the end that is forever etched on my heart. I will never forget it.

“Bloom where you’re planted.”

Serve where you are. Do the mundane thing. It may be mundane to you, but it’s certainly not mundane to God. Even if it’s something you don’t enjoy at the moment, rest assured, you probably won’t be doing it the rest of your life. Be faithful in the little things. Be faithful in general. Stay committed. Serve from the outflow of your heart because you love Jesus and want to serve Him.

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked how I ended up being a Girls Ministry Director, I’m pretty sure I could have paid off my school loan by now.

All I can say is it was a God thing.

If you would have told me in high school that I’d be working in ministry one day, I would have laughed in your face. I never intended on working in ministry. I never even entertained the thought of pursuing ministry as an option.

Not because I hated church and not because I didn’t love Jesus. I loved each of those things, but my heart was to be a teacher. I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was five years old.

However, during my senior year of high school the Lord really started doing a work in my heart personally. I attended a conference for teenage girls that year and my heart was stirred immensely. I wasn’t sure what all of that meant, but instead of sitting on it, I sought counsel and leadership from some older ladies about what was going on in my heart.

The Lord was clearly changing my desires. Aren’t you so thankful for his leadership? And the fact that he knows better what’s best for us?

That year I actually applied for an internship with a girl’s ministry and I was turned down. I was heartbroken, but knew that if the Lord had truly placed these desires to work with girls in my heart, he’d be faithful and guide me to serve in other ways. Although he shut that door, I decided to press on instead of give up and bail out.

My freshman year of college I stayed home and attended a community college here. During that year, I helped lead a small group of freshman girls. It was a good taste of teenage drama, yet I loved them so much.

When I went off to school that next year, I immediately got involved in a Christian sorority, Sigma Phi Lambda and through the next three years served as chaplain, rush captain and little things here and there. Do you see how the Lord threw me into girl’s ministry long before I or he made it my actual career?

As graduation neared, the desire to work in ministry exploded. I don’t think I talked about it a lot because it kind of scared me. After all, I went to school to learn how to be a teacher, not how to lead teenage girls. Or work in a church.

But God is faithful and his grace is perfect. He opened doors in ministry that I never pursued on my own.

I really struggled at that time with deciding whether to pursue teaching full time or take the position I’m currently at. But how could I not take this ministry position when my heart is really there? When I look back on different experiences, I see how he really prepared me for this position. It is a beautiful thing.

So how did I get this position? I simply bloomed where I was planted. I found opportunity after opportunity to grow and serve in college. But it wasn’t really me, it was all Him. And you know what; I’m still doing that exact same thing. I don’t do all things with excellence, I’m far from perfect and do not have most of my life together, but I’m willing and prayerfully obedient when he leads.

I don’t know what’s next for me or for you. But I can say with confidence and with experience that God is faithful. If he’s been faithful in the past, we can be sure that he’ll most certainly be faithful in the present and future. However, we must humbly throw ourselves under his hand. Under his leadership. Under his perfect wisdom. The key word there is humbly.

Check to make sure your desires exalt Christ and not yourself. Believe me when I say I'm constantly, probably daily, making sure my desires exalt Christ and not me. It's easy to exalt me, I am human after all. I could be really off saying this, but I’m not sure he’ll grant us selfish desires that steal his glory. He won’t waste his glory on us. Selfish idols and desires are things that rarely get his blessing, if ever.

The flip-side is thankfully, we serve a faithful God even when we're not. Praise Him for that. Praise Him for undeserved grace. Life may not always go as planned, but rest assured, He knows better and He already knows the outcome.

Bloom where you’re planted, sweet friends. He knows the desires of your heart. He is faithful. Believe Him.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6