Fulfilling A Calling

I have mostly kept this blog to ministry-related posts in one form or another....but today I feel led to get a bit more personal and share a few things God has been showing me. Maybe the blog will be taking a bit of a turn that way, we'll see!
Why do we doubt God's provision??? This is something I have been growing in for the past few years, and even more so very recently.
I firmly believe that God has placed some callings on my life. First, I am His child and I am to reflect Him in all that I say, think and do, to His glory. Then I am a wife, who is blessed to have a husband who is a hard worker with high integrity and work ethics who is also very devoted to his family. I am also a mother --- a very 'high calling'! My primary ministry is always to my family...that is true for all wives and mothers. I am also called to minister to women as a counselor, discipler, mentor, and leader. Although I volunteer my time in ministry, it is equivalent in time and effort to a full time job. I am blessed with an office at my church to work in during school hours, and am able to work a bit at home if needed during my family's down time.
I am often asked why I don't get a 'real' job (meaning, one with a paycheck for the number of hours I spend on it I suppose!). I can only answer that I am doing what I do because it is God's call on my life in this season. At this point, it affords me flexibility and independence so that I can be the mom and wife that I need to be. I once read that you know something is a "calling" when you are willing to do it for free!! I also read that you know it is a calling when you can't NOT do it. That describes me best. It's a burning passion in me to serve Jesus to women!!
Could my family use a paycheck?? Of course - I could even honestly say that we 'need' it - we really do! But God knows that, and it is up to Him how He provides for me, so I leave that in His capable hands. I am often tempted to leave what I am doing for a paycheck. But never (so far) has there been any peace about me leaving the ministry lifestyle for a paycheck. That is a choice and a decision my husband and I have made in this season, sensing God's leading all the way. Because we know it is His will, we also know and can trust that He will provide for us in any way that He sees fit.
Most recently, He has provided the means for us to purchase a home that we never dreamed possible. It was through unexpected means, something only God could come up with! It doesn't even make any human sense that we could be blessed with this house...God has provided it and to Him be all the glory!! We always thought we would need me to make a paycheck in order to buy a home in this town. God had a different idea that we never thought possible! He didn't need a paycheck to make it happen. God's ways are not our ways!
All that to say this: fulfill the calling God has placed on your life! Don't make your decisions based upon human understanding and logic, but rather on trust and faith! Otherwise, you may miss the blessing that God has for you, and the lessons He wants you to learn. Be obedient to your calling, and He will bless you. It may not be formal ministry, but you DO have a ministry. We are called to be His ambassadors in every walk of life He sees fit to put us in.
2 Thess. 1:11-12 "With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
AMEN!!!