Confirmation

I have been journaling, praying and working toward IMPACTful Faith Coaching and Consulting for months. Really since I new that my job with The Caring People was done. You see, leaving that ministry left a huge void in my life. I missed all aspects of it! At first, I thought that I would just start another Single Moms ministry or see if there were positions available in an existing ministry. If we had stayed in Columbia MO, this could be have been a real possibility. But alas, God had other plans for my life. (See blog “He Turns our Mourning into Dancing”)

Slowly God revealed to me some of the truths about ministry and serving Him that I had learned in my years with The Caring People. For one, I loved reaching out to those outside the walls of the church and bringing them into His fold. And Single Moms are not the only part of our society who are outside walls of our church.

Another thing I learned is that relationship ministry is hard! It takes a lot of time, energy, devotion, patience and sacrifice! It is not something that most of our churches do well! We do not know how to reach past our prejudices, fears, inadequacies and judging hearts to really get to know someone different from us! Coaching, jail ministry, my upbringing, my experiences and working with Single Moms have all prepared me to embrace this deeply needed ministry.

Brokenness is everywhere-in our pews, our homes, our workplaces-everywhere! Getting real with my own brokenness and allowing God
to use it to love and reach others, has been the most valuable lessons of my life.

I was working with a pastor to start a Single Mom ministry in his church. He saw the need and the pain single moms in his church and community faced. We worked together, planned, trained and prayed. One day he said to me, “Karen, my congregation does not know how to do this. They are not ready. They are not ready to love the messy, do the messy and push through the messy!” It nearly broke my heart-and his!

My response was, “Let me help you make them ready! God wants His people loving the least of these!!”

My world changed soon after, and I have been unable to carry through with that pastor. But God planted that vision and mission for IMPACTful Faith Coaching and Consulting in my heart that day.

And it is the inspiration for all this!
For every minute spent in prayer for this ministry.
For every investment.
For every word written.
For every picture selected.

For every email sent and Face book post made and blog and waking moment yearning for the people of God to Rise up and Love those right in our Midst who need to beloved with the love of Jesus!

And then the CONFIRMATION from the Lord that came one day as I heard a song on the radio.

They were singing my message!! I kept listening and finally heard it again about a week later!

Then again-until at last I could capture enough to find it on You Tube and listen again and again.

Here is the link to the YouTube video of the song.

May the passion for the church and for God’s people in this song inspire you to take the next step to use your faith to make and Impact in this World