Win It Wednesday … Stuck
Posted by Lori Wilhite
My family tree has some deep small town roots. While I may now call Vegas home, my growing up years were spent visiting my grandparents and cousins in nowhere Texas. When I was in 6th grade, my cousins who lived in the thriving metropolis of Earth, Texas decided to take me four wheeling. I was nervous since I had never done any driving outside of the bumper cars at our local mini-amusement park. When my cousin decided it was time for me to take over the driving, I was a nervous wreck. And, little did he know, he should have been as well.
We started down the dirt road slowly until he encouraged me to speed it up. All was going well that first 90 seconds when he told me, “Turn left here.” Big mistake. To any rationally thinking person, “turn left here” really means, “See that other dirt road right up there? Go ahead and turn left there.” To my completely irrational 6th grade mind, “turn left here” meant, “Turn left right here, right now. Even though there is no road and there is a deep, muddy cotton field, turn left anyway.” So … of course … I turned left … right there.
Stuck. In soft, thick, deep mud. Totally stuck. Not moving. We needed a tow truck STAT.
We can often find ourselves stuck. Maybe not in calf-deep mud. But stuck in life none-the-less.
Since this is the last giveaway before Christmas, we are going B-I-G. Today, we are excited to giveaway 5 copies of Jennie Allen’s new DVD curriculum Stuck: the Places We Get Stuck and the God who Sets Us Free. The curriculum includes 8 videos, a study guide, a leader’s guide and conversation cards.
Win a copy for yourself, or if you joined us at Retreat and already have it, win a copy for your church or a friend!
Entering to win is easy. Just leave a comment telling one thing you love about serving God in ministry or leadership … even though sometimes you might feel “stuck.”
Drawing will be held Friday at midnight, winners will be notified by email.
Congratulations to Kathy Deuman, Tori, Jackie, Karla Meachem, and Aimee Crosby. We will shoot you an email so that we can get your winnings as soon as possible! Enjoy.
I love that I get to see God changing people right in front of my eyes each and every day! Such a blessing!
Seeing how He works in the situation to bring that situation to His good. I work in abortion recovery and it is just amazing when they finally get the true value of his grace and forgiveness in their lives. These are the rewarding moments, that sometimes He allows us to see.
I love the relationships. Getting to know the people I serve with is what I love most. Doing life with them and serving alongside them.
I love the presence of His peace that comes upon you when you know you are doing [or have done] His will for His glory. I’d also love to start a small group with this curriculum.. I’ve felt led to start for sometime, but have been feeling stuck in regards to getting going. So, this would be perfect! 🙂
One of the things that I love most about being in ministry is that we get to be His hands and feet extended!
I love seeing life change!! It’s especially awesome to see those people baptized!! Lots of tears on those days!
When People embrace God’s hope & peace in the midst of struggle, it always reminds me that we are here for a purpose
One thing I love in serving God in leadership/ministry is the constant opportunity to use & sharpen my spiritual gift of encouragement. And everyone needs encouragement, right? 🙂 Love it! Happy Christmas, y’all.
Even though I feel “stuck” sometimes and probably feel that way more than I should, I love knowing that God has me and He sees me and He knows me and He knows I LOVE SERVING HIM NO MATTER WHAT! I love having the comfort of knowing I’m following God and I have the privilege, not just the opportunity, to see Him at work in my life and the lives of others.
One thing I love about serving God in ministry is hearing people’s stories of how God has transformed their lives.
One thing I love is seeing a woman’s life turned around & the impact she then has on the lives of her children! I love that the impact yields greater impact than I initially anticipated!!!
I love serving Jesus through the local church. I love when he lays a passion on my heart and I get to help execute it! I love serving single moms through studies, like this one. I love it all!
I love seeing lives truly changed & set free by the power of God! I’m so grateful He allows me to be a part of bringing His kingdom to this earth. 🙂
I love that when I serve the church, I serve Jesus. Whether it be to hand out a binder or clean trash in a poor community, I am serving Jesus. I also love to see others find their calling to serve their purpose in the church. Makes church mean more when you serve others.
I absolutely love encouraging others…whether I’m stuck or not… 😉
There are so many things I love about ministry. Witnessing God’s healing (whether physically or spiritually) and being a part of that process is priceless.
I love that I get to see God prove His faithfulness overland over again in people’s lives (and my own!!). Being able to help someone who is struggling to see things a bit clearer and point them to Jesus.
I am an introvert and I get stuck wanting to hide and keep to myself (I detest being looked at lol) but I am learning more and more that when I allow God to work in and through me, suddenly I show signs of being an extrovert for Him.
I love watching God change lives. I also love when you see those same people take that hope they’ve found and share it with another!
Being able to serve those who are hurting but seeing how God respond to prayer and going through their journey when they realize He has answered.
I love spending time with people. It’s also a joy being able to share God’s Word with people.
The thing I love most about serving is seeing changed lives. Not changed becuz of me. But change becuz of God’s amazing power working in my life and those around me.
I love seeing the seeds planted years prior come to fruition in people within my ministry
I love seeing lives go from darkness to light, death to life, bondage to freedom. It will never get old! I imagine the party going on in heaven as the angels rejoice over lives being changed! Those are the times you say, this is our job?! We get paid to be a part of this?!
I love seeing people be transformed to broken to whole and then seeing the passion for God and serving others that comes as a result of their own transformation and healing.
There is nothing in the world like being a means of God blessing others. This is what we were made for…to know God and to make Him known!!!
Fellowship and study with other christians is so rewarding. As a teacher I know I have learned far more than I have taught . Your study sounds very interesting.
I love that I get to be there for the people of our congregation, in the best of times and the worst of times.
I think one of the biggest “stuck” places for me has been the desire to be seen. My husband and I are both in ministry and feel that often times we are taken for granted. We struggle with the need to be understood, appreciated and recognized. This has been a refining process for the both of us, and has absolutely been a “stuck” place for both of us for quite a long season.
Goodness! My comment was a downer. I am so sorry! I love just the sheer fact that God has felt that he could trust me enough to shepherd His sheep! What an honor!
I love that God always uses those I am supposed to be helping draw closer to Him to help me grow closer to Him!
The opportunity to serve in ministry is such a privilege and I’m humbled regularly. I love that God teaches me as I teach others. Sometimes the very counsel I give is the counsel I need…oh how he loves us!
I love watching people grow from the moment they walk into our ministry up until the moment they walk out of the doors of our church.
I love knowing that through my service to God little children learn about His love and saving grace. Sometimes the time when they need to see God’s love the most is when they are grumpy, I must be ready to show love in each and every situation.
Working, loving and growing together with families.
I absolutely love having a front row seat to seeing life change happen! Such an honor!
I love seeing the next generation grow up with a passion for Jesus and His church. It’s really amazing to see hundreds of kids and teenagers who GET IT and are making a difference!!!
I love seeing heart/life change in others as they grow and serve!
One thing I love about serving God in ministry is the relationships built and seeing lives and mindsets completely restored or transformed.
I love seeing the light come on in their eyes when they “got it” while studying God’s WORD! Love, His Word, Our Walk….servant hearts!
I love seeing how God uses all kinds of people and situations to do his work and change peoples life.
I love serving God, who continually sets me free from my stuck places, every single time I turn to Him. I love that there’s always something new He teaches me as I lead and teach others. He uses the gifts He gave me to deepen the relationship I have with Jesus and I couldn’t ask for anything better than to serve God and grow with Jesus!
I love serving God and doing ministry because I get to see physical proof of God’s faithfulness every single day!
I love to see God move despite me. It is awesome to see God change lives even when I don’t say or do the right thing. He is bigger than my failures and mistakes and instead uses them to glorify himself. Pretty Awesome.
I love seeing people develop a love for the Word and discover community.
I’m always blessed more than I bless others.
Alone, STUCK shattered my hard heart. ANYTHING suggested surrender, should I? Comfortable I asked a fellow believer to start CHASE with me and only 3 weeks from being done she asks, “Will you lead, if I bring a few more people in?” I believe fully in what you wanted this study do. Risk? There is none. Lord lead me and I will follow.
I love connecting with girls and uncovering how God made my story not only for me, but also for them.
I love seeing women of all ages and backgrounds coming together to worship ONE true God with total abandonment!!
Those times when I am just done & ready to throw in the towel but I head out to serve anyway because I’ve already committed & only to find after serving that I was the one who got blessed when my intentions were to bless others. Love it when God knows just when we need to lift others up & just when we need to be lifted ourselves!
I love seeing college kids step out of their past and into the future God is calling them to.
I love seeing our volunteers bought into a vision for what God is doing in and through them rather than the physical task at hand.
I love seeing students worship. It’s powerful.
I’ve got plenty of people I could share this series with! It’d be a phenomenal Christmas gift!
Wow. This topic is so practical and relevant. We all are facing places where we get stuck. I want this for myself first and those around me. I think of others who have come to me, saying, I have lost my passion. I am no longer on fire for God and I don’t know what has happened.
This Sunday I watched as 4 dads helped baptize their daughters. One daughter was 35 years old and her father who is a pastor came to our church Sunday morning and baptized his “little girl” that he had been praying for, for the last 20 years. To watch a wayward pastor’s daughter not only come to know the love of Christ, but be reunited in a special way with her dad and then go on a mission trip to Guatamala to serve in a feeding center for a week with a team from our church………..that’s the “stuff” that keeps me going!
I am often encouraged when I am feeling unsure that what I am doing every week is making a difference, and God brings people to our meeting that are obviously there at HIS calling and they begin to turn their eyes to Jesus because I made the choice to continue to serve even though I felt “stuck”.
God is SO good!
In ministry, I am so honored to love the forgotten. The people who world seemingly overlooks. The old. The young. The quiet, shy woman in the corner. The disabled. The orphan. The widow. God gives me the sight to see these people. To see their need. To give them a kind word or loving gesture. The most interesting part is when I give to these people. It almost feels like no one sees these quiet, gentle, beautiful moments. Except God. And the funny thing is this feeling that comes over me after I meet with who the world would label “the least of these.” To see how much God really loves these wonderful people. I start to find that working in ministry, God gives a special blessing – almost like He’s proud of us or something. It’s so amazing that someone as undeserving as me can be given those blessings from God. What a loving, gracious God we serve!
I love watching God change lives through the study and application of His Word.
i love the adventure of chasing God’s heart wherever it leads.
Though young, I have the oppertunity to not only serve God but to be used by Him! Even in the ugly stuck times, I remind myself that He chose me… of all people … me! I get to be and to show people the vision of God when otherwise they may not!
I love how being in ministry creates an automatic community. You get to be around people who love serving God the same way you love serving!
I was just thinking today about what a privilege it is to be SO dependent on Him for wisdom for the next step…because in leadership, in ministry…every step is crucial. While part of me bucks at being so “needy” for His constant help, the other part of me relishes His nearness and the opportunity to see what He does up close in people’s lives.
I love to watch Him do His work all around me!