Challenges

Last year our home church hosted a children's world choir group.  Our music director was in charge of making all the arrangements.  She had to set up host homes for the children to stay in for several days, make arrangements for meals and activities, and book performances for the time they were here.  After beginning the task, she became very ill and had to be hospitalized for over a week.  Her recovery continued after release from the hospital.  It took several months to regain her strength and fully recover.

This year I volunteered to coordinate the week's activities for the group.  After beginning the task, my sister's health declined rapidly and my grandson had to be taken at 27 weeks by emergency c-section.  I have spent the last two months caring for my sister, sewing for my grandson (the sewing machine broke during this time), or visiting them in the hospital.  In between these activities, I started teaching a new class at the pregnancy center, attended a class on cheese making, held a cheese making demonstration, and attended other special functions.

Yesterday, I met with my pastor to finalize some plans for the group and I told him.  "I think this group might be cursed."  When he asked why, I reminded him of Rosemary's illness last year and that my life seemed to have fallen apart since assuming the role of coordinator.  I told him "Either they are very much doing the work of God and Satan is fighting against them or they are not doing the work of God and He is trying to tell us something."  The pastor laughed and said, "It could be either way, couldn't it?" 

The truth is that there are times when God sends us messages through events in our lives.  There are also times that Satan fights to kill a good ministry.  When we are questioning the reason obstacles are dropping onto our pathway, we have to examine many aspects.  What is our motive for completing the task?  Is it selfish?  Is it pleasing to God?  Did we pray about it before beginning the project?  Did we jump into the project and then expect God to bless our efforts?  

Once these questions have been answered, we should be able to determine if the activity has the green light from God or needs to be scraped or postponed for another time.  If you feel God has blessed to endeavor, jump in with both feet.  The old saying is:

Pray as if everything depends on God.
Work as if everything depends on you.