I was talking with a friend today when it just hit me...it is okay to be you..and me! Sometimes we feel like we shouldn't “make any waves” and I'm not saying you should either, but I also believe God wants us to be who He made us to be..why else would He make us all different personalities and put us in different backgrounds? I don't believe we should walk around with pride thinking we are “all that” either, but God does give every person in the church a ministry that they are called to do, and when they are in their ministry they work effectively! The church will function properly, and in order when the arm doesn't try to be the heart. The human body is an amazing, mind baffling thing...all systems work together as they were created to do..we were created to praise the Creator, and to win souls through our ministry! There is a confidence and a peace when you know you are functioning in your God called ministry! There are ministries that everyone of us are called in, one often overlooked one is compassion, every person that calls themselves a Christian should have compassion..I know there are a lot of people out there who are not honest, they come up to you or your cars and ask for money, but you what? If we give it in Jesus' name who cares what they do with it...we are doing it as unto Jesus anyway! God allows us to go through hard and good times in our life's so we can function in our ministry, when my husband & I are doing what we know God called us to do, it operates perfectly..the way it is supposed to, not perfect in the sense we are perfection, but that He is, and He is the one who placed the seeds of that ministry in our hearts and caused it to grow through experience and compassion! It takes faith to function in your ministry too, and that mustard seed of faith will in God's time grow into the “tree” it is meant to be..faith without works is dead! We were under a pastor that taught us it was okay to be you, and to be confident, not in yourself, but God knowing full well that He is worthy of that confidence, because He will never let you down! It grieves my heart when I think that there are so many people in our pews that are full of ministry, but because they aren't feeling confident enough to step out they don't! People need to feel safe enough that they will stretch their faith. There are times when God tells me to go say something to a brother or sister, well usually God only gives me one word, but when I get there and begin to speak He fills in the rest for me, so if I only went on what God gave me I'd probably never go! Like a baby bird, when they break out of their egg they have to be fed constantly by both parents or they will die, they cannot take care of themselves! After awhile they begin maturing and then they can do what God created them to do, fly! The same goes for us, we have to be “fed” by God those seeds of ministry, then in time we will do what we are called to do! I think so many of us would be happier if we knew our ministry and had confidence in that ministry, I really believe our churches would change, because the power of the Holy ghost would begin operating in the way the Bible says it is supposed to, and then sign and wonders WILL follow! I love y'all...