February 26, 2020 - Led

February 26, 2020 Ash Wednesday – What is something that led your spiritual development?

What year was it? 1999, I think. I was working at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomsburg, PA as the Director of Christian Education. Kristen, a member of the congregation, invited me to join her and some friends in a women’s Bible study. They were meeting at her house on a Wednesday morning. I went because I wanted to encourage Kristen on her newfound spiritual path.

It was a Beth Moore study called A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place. I had never heard of Beth Moore before. Within a week, we had moved the study to the church and we were going strong.

I am not a Baptist. I’m not a fundamentalist. I cringed at some of the things Beth would say in the videos or wrote in her books. But the truth is, that study led me into all new spiritual territory.

The study included five weekly lessons to be completed at home; the group gathered weekly to share our learning. Rhonda, our small group leader, suggested that we find a time each day to focus on the lesson, and she said that morning is the best time. I said, “I am not a morning person; there’s no way I can get up before my family to concentrate on this.” Rhonda said, “Ask God to help you wake up earlier.”   Suddenly I was wide awake at 5:30 most every morning, yearning to go downstairs and sit in my chair with my Bible and study guide.

Every day, morning by morning, new mercies and graces were revealed to me. Like a partner I was learning to trust leading me out on the dance floor, God was drawing me into a personal journey of spiritual growth.

Later in the study, we all completed a spiritual gifts inventory and shared our results with one another. I was unwilling to share. I felt uncomfortable, believing it was telling me something wrong. Rhonda said, “Ask God to use other people in your life to show you where your spiritual gifts are.” Suddenly, it was happening: friends and co-workers were, in different ways, telling me that I am a pastor.

God works in mysterious ways. Rhonda, in her steady faith that whatever we ask God for will be given to us, led me into new growth. And, even though I never would have chosen a Beth Moore study for myself, God worked through Beth – a woman whose beliefs dictated that women cannot serve as pastors – to lead me into ministry.