Market Place Ministers

Yesterday was my first day on my second job. I finally did what I have been avoiding for months now and got another job. I was wanting to stick to strictly ministry. It's so much easier to pour your heart into something you spend all your time on. But when I found a job that would work around my schedule at the church, and would only work me nights and Saturdays, I had to jump on it.

Disappointed because it was not a job in ministry ( simply because that is my passion), I started praying about my new job. God reminded me that it is still ministry. Market Place ministers is the term my dear Mission director, Patrick Ballington, would have used. So I started praying in advance for God to give me opportunities to share Him and His word with those in my workplace. I mean I covered all the basics, "God anoint my tongue. Anoint my path. Place people in my path. Remind me that every path I cross, I leave my mark..." and so on.

Silly me, I placed God in a box. I didn't expect Him to answer so quickly. I figured I would come to work, and after several, several weeks, one of the co-workers would have a breakdown, need some advice and "DUH-NA-NA-NA!!!!" It's Gabbi to the rescue. But God has a funny sense of humor, and a great way of showing it. First day on the job, and during one of my breaks I started talking with a co-worker trying to get to know her better. I asked her where she was from and what she was doing with life. She opened up immediately, telling me about her 13 year old daughter, her husband, how they had just moved not too long ago, and how she loved the job. She then began to tell me more about her daughter. She mentioned that she wanted to get her connected to a good crowd, and possibly a church. She said that she felt like their old church was judgemental, and hypocritical, and that they had not been in church in well over a year.

My mind was reeling, and just when I thought I might start laughing she says, "So what do you do besides this??" And I laughed. Right out loud, in front of her. I grinned ear to ear and laughed. She said, "What?"

I smiled as I said, "Well ma'am, I'm an Outreach Minister with House of Prayer International. And I am a Student Pastor intern..."

You should have seen her jaw drop. She sat and just blinked at me for a while and then finally managed a, "No Way!" She seemed just as shocked as I was. After I shared some stuff with her and told her about our Student Ministries and how to get her daughter connected, I excused myself back to the front of the store, and started to thank God. Already He had placed someone in my life I could reach, and I felt Him say, "I'm going to start doing this in every area, as long as you seek me on it."

My heart has been smiling since then. I don't normally pray for God to put someone in my path at church, because that's why people are there, to learn, or hear God's word, or be ministered to, but God has changed that view of mine so much lately, and I started praying for that as well. And tonight God placed me in a room with a few of my students at just the right time. The conversations that came up were amazing, and to watch God speak, not just through me, but also through some of the students was amazing.

I am excited to see what new things God will do next. I'm not sure what lives I may touch with my new job, or how God is going to do it. But I am praying it is greatly.

"God, use me, all of me, Greatly."

Let this always be our prayer.