Recently, I saw an image on social media that said something to the effect of “If you’re waiting on God, do what waiters do: Serve.”
This post was shared by a few of my friends and it really got me thinking about service.
In the last year or so, I have really struggled with the idea of service.
It feels selfish of me, but often, I don’t volunteer for things.
At work I usually feel too swamped to take on more than I already am.
At home, sometimes I’m barely able to accomplish the absolute bare minimum of my day-to-day tasks and parenting before I am out of energy or snapping at my children for just being kids.
At church, I sometimes find it challenging to sign up for things because my husband is on staff - so if I also volunteer…who would be in charge of our children?
The idea of putting myself out there and committing to something more than I am already doing feels so overwhelming.
Recently, Zach and I have been studying in Ecclesiastes, and in 3:22, Solomon says, “So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.”
This falls in the same chapter where Solomon reminds us that for everything in life there is a time.
As we were studying this chapter, my mind wondered to all of the activities I participate in. I began to feel guilty for the times I have chosen to serve, and especially the times I had not.
The times I had served, I don’t remember doing so joyfully.
If I am being honest, I have really been hard on myself lately about my volunteerism.
I have felt massively guilty that I don’t serve more.
In the moment, I try to remind myself that it is just important that I’m serving and giving what I can, but I’m always feeling like a failure in this area of my life.
I even chatted with Zach and a friend about my “conviction” and they both thought I might have been a little rough on myself. I was sure they were just being kind.
However, as we sat in our church’s annual meeting, the leaders in our church recapped all of the things we accomplished this year.
I found myself recognizing one event after another that I participated in or supported somehow.
I didn’t count, however, by the end of the meeting, I felt God had reminded me that I actually was involved and served.
In fact, I was often serving joyfully, even if I signed up with reluctance!
I’m certainly not saying this to brag on myself - there are many more places I could’ve offered my time and talent - I’m saying this to remind you that sometimes, that voice in your head, is not yours and it isn’t God’s. Sometimes, the “conviction” you are feeling, is a lie.
I have no doubt that God really did convict me to spend more time in service, but I don’t think the guilt I was feeling was from Him.
This series of events got me thinking about the lies the enemy was sharing with me, and I believe I have identified the shreds of truth in all of it that I would like to share with you about finding ways to serve joyfully.
Serve with a joyful heart.
Spiritual gifts and talents come in many shapes and sizes.
Serve authentically.
Learn how to accept God’s gift of rest
1.Serve with a Joyful Heart
The biggest lesson I’ve learned in the past year regarding my service, is that I need to find ways to serve that I can be joyful.
In this era of my life, this usually means that I’m helping with music, leading a bible study, or teaching a class at my church.
I don’t often seek opportunities to work with the youngest members of our church (my children’s age groups) because I’m pretty inundated with that at home. I’ve learned in the last few years that I can more intentionally and passionately serve in areas that I’m not already feeling overwhelmed.
I think it is important to recognize when or if your joyful service is turning into obligation, and set boundaries.
I’ve had an unfortunate front row seat to watch some of the best servants I know, burn out.
I believe that this is, in part, due to the obligation they may have felt to serve.
It is heart-breaking to watch these bright stars burn out.
Sometimes, we forget to check in with these people until it is too late. I’ve even seen it lead to them leaving the church and either finding a new one or simply stop going to church.
While it is hard to accept some of the responsibility of our peers’ burnout, we have to be aware of what we are expecting, how often we are expecting it, and not recognizing when the spark of joy they once had is fizzling out before our eyes. If we are the ones asking or expecting someone to serve, we HAVE to recognize that “no” is an acceptable answer.
If you are the one experiencing the burn out - we love you for more than your gifts, talents, and service. We miss you and we would love to see you come back home to our church.
If this is you, or you think you’re headed down this path, I beg you to set a boundary or have a conversation with anyone who is asking you to serve before it crosses the line from joy to obligation.
And finally, if this is you, please don’t allow the voice of the enemy to speak death over your God-given talent to worship and glorify Him in a way only YOU can.
Prayerfully consider where God wants you to serve, or not serve, and ask for the boldness to follow the Godly tug on your heart toward a “yes” or “no.”
My daughter singing “Jesus Loves Me” with one of our talented pianists. I believe our pianist’s gift might be bringing the musician out of everyone in an act of worship! Little Davis was tickled pink to sing with the piano and microphone.
2. Spiritual Gifts and Talents Come in Many Shapes and Sizes
I think it is really important to look for opportunities to serve where your gifts and talents are already aligned, while being open to opportunities that the Lord might present along the way.
This doesn’t mean that you’ll never serve in other ways, but it means that you should prioritize the ways you’re uniquely gifted to serve, because those gifts usually align with your passion and joy.
For me, I believe God has gifted me a little bit of musical talent to help lead people at my church in worship. I get to help others connect and praise Him!
I think about my childhood and how I’ve always been deeply connected to music and the arts. I’m now understanding that all of that was woven into the fabric of my being to glorify God.
Paul talks about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians. To summarize, there are many spiritual gifts and like a body is made up of many parts, as the body of Christ, we are made up of many skills and talents. A whole body is comprised of many individual parts with many jobs and specializations in order to keep the whole body functioning day to day. He says “God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as He wanted.” (1 Corinthians 12:18)
“God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as He wanted.”
I can’t help but share one of the most incredible examples of someone using their spiritual gift and God “arranging” the parts of the body that I have had the privilege to witness in real life.
Our church has a full band for worship - or at least has the opportunity and instruments for a full band when volunteers are available.
Not long ago, we were looking for more drummers at our church.
My friend Connie has been leading worship at our church since the early 2000’s, I believe. I think God has given her some kind of supernatural ability to bring out the musician in anyone and the boldness to approach just about anyone about joining the worship team.
One Sunday after church, Connie was on her way out, the need for a drummer heavy on her mind.
As she was leaving church, my friend Colton held the door for her. As she walked past him, God must’ve prompted her to ask him, “Do you know anybody who plays drums??”
Spoiler alert: COLTON PLAYS PERCUSSION.
It wasn’t long before Colton joined the worship team and began to help with percussion.
Connie recruited me as well!
After I performed a special one Sunday with my guitar, Connie approached me and said, “Why don’t you start leading worship sometimes?”
I’ve seen God use Connie many times to build the confidence of musicians in our church, and it is such a blessing to witness and experience it.
I can only pray that God will use me that way someday!
My sister, her friend, and the bassist mentioned in the following story!
Serve Authentically
I recently attended a women’s conference in Branson, MO, called, “Favored Women.”
While there, we worshiped regularly, participated in great motivational and educational sessions, and enjoyed the musical talents of Big Daddy Weave and CAIN. It was a fantastic opportunity and I cannot wait to share more about it.
During the worship session, I noticed the Favored Worship band’s bass player was very animated.
He had what my husband calls, “Bass face.”
But it didn’t stop at his face! He was all over the place, his body was moving, his tongue came out and he even seemed to be crying at one point.
At first, his crazy faces made me laugh. In fact, our whole group got a little chuckle from the intensity of the bass player.
However, by the end of the conference, we couldn’t take our eyes off of him. He was deeply moved and invested in the music.
He even moved some of us to tears.
He was worshipping God in the most authentic way he could. I haven’t seen worship like that very many times in my life.
My sister and I performing a special for our church worship service. We sang, “Springtime” by Chris Renzema.
Worship doesn’t stop at music.
If you bring your authentic self forward when you choose to serve, you will notice the whole experience is more joy-filled.
You never know when your hand in the air in praise, your elaborate VBS decorations, your can do attitude, your presence, etc., will show someone else the wonder and grace of Jesus.
When you bring your whole, authentic self, you won’t have to look very hard to find a place to passionately serve. Everyone around you will be asking you personally to bring your incredible talents and unique version of a “bass face” to the table.
The most recent opportunity I had to snuggle my sweet baby as she fell asleep on my lap. It's hard not to snap a picture of these beautiful blessings.
Accept God’s Gift of Rest
The final point I want to emphasize is this: if you can’t seem to find joy in serving with any of the first three truths, you may need to rest.
We ALL need rest. If God rests, so also should we!
If you’re feeling burnt out, it is okay to take a hiatus from service. In my opinion, this is the concept of “sometimes you have to take care of yourself first before you can truly help others.”
I don’t believe that God wants us to serve others at the expense of our well-being.
That being said, servitude doesn’t come without its challenges and sacrifices!
Take a break from serving when you need to, but don’t let it be the end of your service.
After I had each of my babies, I intentionally took a break from leading worship at our church. Being up in the middle of the night certainly didn’t help my willingness, but at the time, I felt I owed my time and attention to the newest member of my family and my healing body.
I made sure that my “yes” was truly “YES.”
I took the time to be poured into when I felt I was exclusively pouring out my everything for my new baby.
In that time, I struggled to spend time in my bible daily, pray before falling asleep at night, and even have my own relationship with God, let alone be responsible for pouring into others and encouraging them in their faith.
SO. Rest. Get back to the basics of faith. When you’ve managed to realign yourself with God and spend time with Him daily, you may be ready to begin pouring into others again.