The truth is simple but profound … you don’t have to go to India, have a TV show or be on staff at a church to be a woman in ministry.
You don’t have to write articles for Christian magazines, be invited to speak at conferences or have a husband who pastors a megachurch in order to be used significantly by God.
A woman in ministry is a woman who has made herself available for the purposes and plans of God. If your heart’s desire is to be used by God at your moment in history, take a deep breath and look around. Your circumstances are not accidental nor are they insignificant. God has placed you where you are for His strategic and eternal plan.
The people in your life are all desperately in need of someone who will simply love them unconditionally … and that is where you come in.
You got the job.
Jesus has hired you to love the unlovable … to show grace to the fractious … and to bring joy to the discouraged.
You are here not for prestige, for fame or for earthly power. You are here to be a vessel of God’s mercy, His hope and His power.
You got the job.
A woman in ministry is a woman who encourages the single mom in the checkout line at the grocery store. A woman in ministry is a woman who prays for the students and teachers at her children’s school. A woman in ministry is a woman who smiles at strangers, cheers on the weary and finds a way to demonstrate the love of God in little ways every day.
A woman in ministry is a force to be reckoned with not because of a prestigious title or due to a significant position in a well-known ministry but because of her enormous heart. She has a heart that is filled to overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit and is unable to hold back that which has been placed inside of her.
A woman in ministry is unable to stop talking about that which she has seen and heard. She is compelled to exhibit the fruits of the spirit in the home, in the marketplace, on the street and at the church. A woman in ministry has been commissioned to tell the story of Jesus in word and in deed. She tells it to the aged, to the lonely, to the misfits, to the fortunate, to little people and to rebels.
I believe that the most powerful women in ministry in any age are not those who receive financial remuneration for their services. I also know for certain that the most dynamic world-changing women of any generation are not those whose names are synonymous with cultural recognition.
The women who are the truest champions of the faith are often the most unknown, underappreciated and underpaid servants in any generation and yet they are called, anointed and powerful.
Are you a woman? Do you love Jesus? You got the job! {eoa}
Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books, including No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book, Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire, was released last August. Her teaching DVD The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming. You can also listen to Carol’s “A Jolt of Joy” program daily on the Charisma Podcast Network. Connect with Carol at justjoyministries.com.
