The God Of All Comfort

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like the Lord often opens doors of opportunity when we least expect it.  And a lot of times He asks us to do things that we never even thought of!

About 3 years ago, the Lord blessed our congregation by allowing us to move into a brand new facility after many years.  This new building was light, bright and very welcoming, with 4 different doors of entry into the main lobby area instead of 2, a large parking lot and definitely a larger sanctuary!

As I mentioned in my post Take That Bold Step, I’m really kind of a shy person.  Yet I really want to share Jesus’ love with others, so serving on a greeting team was really not that difficult for me.  It’s not hard to smile, shake someone’s hand and welcome them to church.  After all, we have no idea who God is going to bring through the doors each time they are open – we might be the only smiles that someone has seen for a long time.

Prior to our move into the new building, one of the pastors asked Gary and I if we could come by his office.

Couldn’t help it – my first thought was to think the worst (Who’s Your Daddy?).  Things started flying through my head.  What on earth could he want?  Had we done something wrong?

Kind of felt like I was being called to the principal’s office…

We were shocked when the pastor asked us to be directors/overseers of the whole hospitality ministry!  They wanted to join the inside greeters, auditorium ushers and parking lot team, and have them work in unison to make people feel warm and welcomed from the first moment they drove into the parking lot.

Whoa, talk about daunting!

We acted very maturely, and told the pastor we’d pray about it.

My life for the next couple of days was like a roller-coaster.  Up and down went my emotions – this was definitely not in my comfort zone!

Then I happened to read a prayer I had just written in my journal a couple days prior:  “Lord, may I always be ready to say ‘yes’ when you open a new door in my life.”

Yikes!  Lord is this where You want us to be?  If it is, please send me one more confirmation and I’ll say “yes.”  Your Word says that Your power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and that I can do everything through Your strength (Philippians 4:13).

Well confirmation did come, but still I was overwhelmed.  But I was overwhelmed because I was thinking of “me” doing it, instead of “Him.”  I needed to lean on Jesus and accept His peace (Got Peace?).

His peace came through Matthew 11:28-30 NIV (emphasis mine):

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Our Father doesn’t just throw us into the wrestling arena and say, “Go on, win this match;” instead He says, “Come, let’s do this together.”

Okay, Lord, here we go!  Prepare us for this new adventure, and my our eyes stay firmly focused on You…

And you know, things worked out great.  There were a lot of unknowns, and a lot of long hours to get everything started, but God continually brought people to help lead the teams, and gave us the strength and energy to continue moving ahead.

Gary and I worked hard at this ministry for the first year we were at the new campus, but then it was time to step down.  Of course, God had another couple waiting in the wings to take over for us.

And that’s one thing we must remember.  When God calls you into something that maybe you’re uncomfortable with, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be stuck there indefinitely!  Sometimes He just wants you to “plant seeds” more or less, and then He’ll move you to something else and bring in others to “water” your efforts.