Sifford Family in Zimbabwe: August 2012

After Ryan and I were married, we moved to the Dallas area. We had met at church and were heavily involved with the college ministry there so I, very naively, assumed that getting involved in a church in Dallas would be simple. Little did I know that it would be a year of visiting different churches and, unfortunately, sleeping in before we found our church home. After we joined First Baptist Church of The Colony, we joined a Sunday School class and started attending regularly. About a year later, the youth pastor asked us to teach a 7th & 8th grade Sunday School class. We very nervously said yes. We soon became very involved in the youth department and loved serving there. After a while other people at the church began to ask us to serve in other areas of the church. We’ve done everything from Youth Ministry to Vacation Bible School… from World Changers to Celebrate Recovery... from Auto Mechanics Ministry to Rocket Car Challenge... from teaching bible studies to one-on-one discipleship… from construction to crafts. We’ve done and been a part of a lot in the last 11 years at our church. We served because we knew God had given us certain skills and abilities and we wanted to use them for Him. We served because we felt God calling us to. We served because the blessing far outweighed the sacrifice.
Until recently I thought all that service ended upon itself. There was a need, someone filled the need, case closed. I have come to see now that not only were we filling needs in that moment, but God was also training us for the work here. For example, I do a children’s bible study here every week. It is 100-125 kids crammed on my back porch AND every other week, we give them jump ropes for Jump Rope for Jesus club. That seems daunting, maybe even a little crazy, but the truth is it’s not that stressful at all. All that time spent doing VBS’s and working with the youth has made it easy… second-nature. Now, that’s not to say I wasn’t anxious at the first meeting… I mean, on some level, it is still 100 kids looking back at you, but after the initial nervousness passed it has been wonderful. God has blessed me to be able to serve Him in this way.
I have been blown away at how intricately He has trained us to be completely ready and able to do His will here. It is so amazing that our God is completely sovereign over EVERYTHING- even to the point of using small service tasks at church to be preparing us to serve in Africa 10 years later. Amazing. The point of all this is this... please let my testimony encourage you to serve in your local church. There are always a million reasons not to serve- too busy, too little money, too many other things going on in your life... all are valid- the list is endless. But there is something else that is endless… the ways that God can use your service. We all have abilities and skills that God has given us to use for Him, so if you are good with kids- go serve, if you are good at comforting a friend through a death in the family- go serve, if you are good at fixing cars- go serve, if you are good with teens- go serve, if you are a good writer- go serve, if you are good at evangelizing the lost- go serve…. Just GO. You never know what God has intended in your life in the future until you take the first step today. I have been amazed at how He has trained me so completely for this task here- not by my power, but by His. He does that in all of our lives.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25
“Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

1 Timothy 4:14a
“Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you…”

Rashel

PS- In case you are wondering what Rocket Car Challenge is- go check out some cool videos and pics at www.StrapaRocketOnIt.com :)

Sifford Family in Zimbabwe

Friday, August 24, 2012

Fun Pics!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Another reason to serve....