As a child of God, co-heirs with Christ, you’re invited to join God at work. To trace how God has worked in your faith and understand what He specially prepared you to do for Him now and also in the future. Romans 12 teaches us we are to always live for God; in our workplace, in our homes, among our families, out in our communities. But the main place God calls us to work is through His church. The next series of posts are stories about doing God’s work, among His people.

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I became North Point’s third women’s ministry coordinator in 2010. We had attended the church for a couple years and I became active in women’s ministry activities, Bible study in particular. Not since leaving my hometown to attend college had I found a group of women I knew would walk long stretches of life with me. Close, godly friendships meant to stand the test of time.

In late summer, the current women’s minister asked to meet with me. I had taken on a teaching role by that time so I didn’t find the meeting too unusual. When we sat down in the library room; the one with glass doors, she told me she planned to step down as women’s minister. She felt led to do so and before approaching our pastor and others with her decision, she wanted to get my opinion on her predecessor. Would I be willing to pray about taking on this role?

You know what came to my mind first when she asked me? “I don’t know how to quilt.” See, in the churches of my past, I knew the women to do two things; talk about missions and sew quilts. Yes, I remember a few other events like teas and luncheons and Bible study. Our first thoughts don’t always have to be logical, right?

Which is why before I gave her an answer, I told her I wanted to pray and consider the opportunity with my husband. So I did both. And I thought about what ministering to women might look like. Specifically, I thought about the women in my church, my sisters in Christ, those I loved and called friends. I thought about women still to come to our church; transferring from a church they loved, trying church life for the first time or perhaps new to the faith, they would need someone to call friend. As always, I looked back on my life to see any traces of God preparing me for this very role. Mostly, I thought about what women needed most from ministry.

It wasn’t a new quilt, but they are beautiful and I would fully support a group of ladies who took on the task of creating a quilting ministry in our church. It wasn’t a group to discuss missions, though we could all stand to learn from those mighty men and women and children of God who leave behind comfort to answer a calling.  

Women needed closer friendships, help with marriage, advice on child-rearing. But not just in a “join our club” format. What I landed on, what women need more than anything, is Jesus. His redeeming, restoring blood would take us into deeper relationship, with one another and with Him. And I knew the best way to get more of Jesus is to study God’s Word. The living, breathing Word. 

And at that point of discovery, I found my answer. Yes, God had most certainly prepared me for the role of women’s minister. From the time I was a baby, Mom took me to church, where I had wonderful women Sunday School teachers who taught me Bible stories. Through years of Bible drills and Bible quizzing and a year of religion courses in college. My journey led me to nine different churches in my life where I always started out as the new girl. With thousands of hours of reading the Bible and Bible studies and devotionals and books on the Bible under my belt, I saw God clearly tracing my steps to here. Armed with a love of the Holy Scripture that grows with each passing week, I could help these women discover the Word of God, a well so deep it never runs dry. 

I also discovered He had given me a deep love for these women. Not just North Point women, but Christian sisters I had met all along my faith journey. 

Yes, we have fun events too; we line dance and learn about Passover and break lots of leavened bread together. One of my favorite Bible study nights occurred when we hosted a missionary and she shared with us what was happening in her part of the world today. And, as God would have it, we ended up studying the very things she had shared with us over and over in our Bible study that summer. But at the heart of our ministry is study of the Scripture. That is our driving force. 

And you know, for the life of me, I still don’t know how to sew a quilt.