by Shar Gumke, EaND Synod VicePresident
One should never try to take matters into their own hands. God has His own plan. I know this first-hand.
Two years ago as I was busy doing online graduate work, the phone rang and I was asked to consider submitting my name for the ballot of Vice-President of the EaND Synod. My first thoughts were, “I’m not qualified… I barely survived a church council presidency…I don’t even know where the synod office is located.” My initial reaction when asked to serve Christ in a new way was to find excuses why I couldn’t. We often spend more time looking for reasons why we can’t serve rather than asking why God might be nudging us to serve Him in a new venture. Our insecurities turn into doubt which quickly turns
into negativity and refusals to serve.
That was my mind-set when I sat down to visit my uncle, Rev. Al Zenker, a retired bishop of the ELCA (Central/Southern Illinois). I was explaining my doubts to Uncle Al when he gently smiled and said, “Why do you think you have to decide? If God wants you to have this position, He’ll give you the resources you’ll need to do the job…you just have to trust Him. Why don’t you put your name on the ballot and see what happens.”
What wonderful words of wisdom in the midst of a mild admonition! Let go and let God? What a concept! Did I trust God enough to believe He would see me through any new challenge on my own journey of faith? Do you? What does God have in store for you? Are you open to hear His call in the midst of your busy life? I encourage you to prayerfully consider ways you might serve Him…maybe in your community, your church, your synod? God has promised never to leave or forsake us so that we might say in confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”
Reprinted from the December 2008 Newsletter.
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