Women In Ministry

This week our resident Foursquare Chaplain, Fran Graham, shares about her upcoming workshop at retreat:

If you’ve hung around me long enough, you know that my passion and driving force (other than following Jesus of course) is best described by one of my favorite sayings, which is that we are to ”be the hands and feet of Jesus”  in our communities.

It’s easy to do that when things are going well with our relatives, close friends or members of our church family, but what about when life gets ugly?

I’m talking about shadowing Jesus in the midst of ugly situations that knock you off your own feet, events that blindsided your neighbors, or tragic crisis situations that impact your town. I’m not only talking about reaching out to those you do know but also to those whom you’ve never met before—hurting people in your local community that need the presence of Jesus to minister to them.

Sometimes you are the one prompted by the Holy Spirit to go and help. Sometimes YOU are the ONLY ONE available to “be” there.

• What is a crisis?
• Do you know what to do or how to help?
• What to say?
• When to speak?

The very nature of a critical event, a crisis, is that it is usually totally unexpected and overwhelms people’s normal coping mechanisms.

If a neighbor phones you in floods of tears, wailing loudly and uncontrollably because her pet parrot just died, you may think she is overreacting and needs to pull herself together. After all, it’s only a bird, right?

Yet if another neighbor phones you and tells you the awful news that her husband has just suddenly died of a heart attack, you’d expect overwhelming waves of emotion to flood through her, right?  WRONG!

I‘m going to challenge you to step in to the uncomfortable arena of psychological trauma, crisis and tragedy.

These events come at the most inconvenient times and they open up amazing opportunities for you to represent Jesus to those affected by the overwhelming situation that has just knocked the wind out of their sails.

I’m looking forward to sharing some proven skills that you can add to your spiritual tool box which will enable you to step out in faith into the thick of the trauma when a crisis hits.

You can Shadow Jesus in the Midst of Ugly by being Jesus’ hands and feet in your community. —Fran

Friday evening at retreat we’re offering 3 workshops to choose from: Self-care For Shadowing Jesus (by me—big whoop please) so you can be able shadow Jesus in the midst of ugly. Shadowing Jesus in the Midst of Ugly With Your God-given Passions with Jeanette Morris. And last, this one with Fran on Shadowing Jesus in the Midst of Ugly Situations.

Which one will you choose to attend?